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THE  GREAT  WALL  OF 
CHINA 


The  Great  Wall  of  China 


By 

William  Edgar  Geil,  f.  r.  g.  s. 

Author  of  '  'A  Yankee  on  the  Yangtze ' ' 
etc.,  etc. 


WITH  ONE  HUNDRED  FULL-PAGE 
ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS 


j|2tto  fork 

STURGIS  &  WALTON 

COMPANY 

1909 


Copyright,  1909 
By  STURGIS  &  WALTON  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  November,  1909 


% 


NOTE 

The  author  has  avoided  telling  the  same  story  twice. 
The  illustrations  are  inserted  not  only  to  substantiate 
the  text  but  to  make  material  additions  to  it.  For  in- 
stance, instead  of  a  long,  dry,  detailed,  laborious 
description  of  the  various  styles  of  wall,  there  are  repro- 
ductions from  photographs  which  will  furnish  the 
information,  without  encumbering  the  letter  press. 
The  illustrations  should  be  carefully  studied  during 
the  reading  of  the  book. 

The  Publishers. 


M5<!6n 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I 
Merely    Preliminary 3-6 

CHAPTER    II 

The  Thrilling  Prospect.  From  the  Golden  Gate  to  the  Yellow 
Sea — Chin,  Van  Tromp,  Blake,  Togo — Great  Battles  of  Books 
and   Brains — Progeny  of  the  Black  Art 7-12 

CHAPTER    III 
The  Tragedy  of  Chinwangtao.     Ever  Open   Harbor — The  Isle  of 

Chin  now  joined  to  the  Mainland — The  Cap  of  the  West 13-16 

CHAPTER    IV 
The   Only   First.     A    brief   Biography    of   the   First    Emperor   of 
China — His    Wonderful    Works — The    Great    Wall — Search    for 
Root    of    Life — Invention    of    the    Chinese    Pen — Thirty-Seven 
years,    Reign — Death 17-31 

CHAPTER    V 
From  the  Sea  to  the   Eastern  Y.     Chin's  Design — Narrative  of 
the  First  Three  Hundred  Miles  of  the  Journey  along  the  Great 
WalWThe  Lily  Pool— White  Dandelion— Peace  Project 32-50 

CHAPTER    VI 
The  Ancient  Architectural  Wave.     The  Idea  of  the  Great  Wall, 
European,    Babylonian,   or    Original? — The    Seven    Wonders    of 
the  West — Survey  of  Chief  Characteristics  of  the  Epoch  of  the 
Great    Wall 51-68 

CHAPTER    VII 

From  the  Thirteen  Tombs  to  China's  Sorrow.  The  Ming 
Mausolea — The  Western  Tombs — Wu  Tai  Shan — Magic  Mortar 
— Tablets  on  the  Wall — The  Picturesque  Pass — Wan  Li  and 
Lung  Ch'ing 69-93 

CHAPTER    VIII 

The  Defense  of  the  Great  Wall.    Weapons  of  the  Gods,  etc 94-104 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

_  PAGE 

CHAPTER    IX 
The  Loess  or  River  Loop,  in  Oldest  China,  Land  of  Legend  and 
of    Dry    Fog.      The    Journey    from    the    Yellow    River    to    the 
Yellow    River— Legends — Fauna — Flora — Black    Dog's    Diary — 
The  Line  of  the  Least  Natural  Resistance 105-124 

CHAPTER    X 
The  Rise   of  Chin:   Seven   Great   Chancellors.     Ballad   by   Dr. 

W.    A.    P.    Martin 125-141 

CHAPTER    XI 
Letters    from    Ninohia.      Addressed    to    a   Young   Lady — No-door 

life — Medicine   Man — The    Lone   Lady   of    Xinghia 142-156 

CHAPTER    XII 

Genghis  Khan,  the  Red  Raider  who  passed  through  the  Great 

Wall  at  Ninghia.     Shed  23,000,000  gallons  of  human  blood.  .157-175 

CHAPTER    XIII 
The  Desert  Loop:  Kansu.    Mountain  Mule  Caravan — Famous  Moon 
Legend — Dead  Land — Great  Irrigation  Scheme — Important  Tab- 
let—List  of  Great   Walls 176-193 

CHAPTER    XIV 
Chin   Shih   Hwangti:  First  Universal  Emperor  of  China,  His- 

TORICO-ECONOMIC     STUDY    OF    ChIXa's    GREATEST    RULER 194-208 

CHAPTER    XV 
The    Mound    of    Chin 209-232 

CHAPTER    XVI 
The   Why  of  the  Wall 233-253 

CHAPTER    XVII 
The  "9  by  3"  City:  Liangchowfu.     Detour  of  the  Great  Wall — A 

Cavern    of    Gold 254-262 

CHAPTER    XVIII 
Yung  Lo,  who  Moved  the  Urns  of  Empire.     The  Grand  Encyclo- 
pedia     263-272 

CHAPTER    XIX 
The  Southern  Loop  of  the  Great  Wall.     The  White  Elephant — 

The   Golden    Table 273-283 

CHAPTER   XX 

China  Before  the  Great  Wall.  Yao,  Shun,  Yii — Laotzu,  Con- 
fucius, Mencius— Intellectual  Activity— The  "Confucian  Re- 
ligion."     ' 284-293 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

CHAPTER   XXI 
The  Three  Chins.     Ancestral   Home  of  the  Chins — Black   Dog.. 294-305 

CHAPTER    XXII 
Medieval    China:    Since    Chin's    Great    Wall    to    the    Present 

Dynasty     306-316 

CHAPTER    XXIII 
The   Tibetan    Loop   of   the    Great   Wall,    Fast    Horse    Caravan 
into  Tibet.     Discovery  of  200  miles  of  Great  Wall  not  on  the 
Map — Sining  and  the   Hero  of   Sining — Christian   Missions 317-331 

CHAPTER    XXIV 
The    Chin    Tablet:    "One    of   the    most    remarkable    Relics    of 

Antiquity."     332-241 

CHAPTER    XXV 
In  the  Panhandle  of  China:  Kanchow.     Journey  Liangchow  to 

Kanchow — Cashing  a  Draft  in  Northwest   Kansu 342-351 

CHAPTER    XXVI 

The  Panhandle  of  China.     The  City  of  Str.     Su,  last  Large  City 

along  the   Great   Wall— Legends 352-360 

CHAPTER   XXVII 

The  End  of  the  Great  Wall.  Western  End  of  the  Great  Wall.  .361-388 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing  Page 

1.  The  Famous  Lienhwachih  Pass  in  the  Great  Wall.    Frontispiece 

2.  Strongly  fortified  Pass  of  the  Great  Wall  at  the  Rocky  Gorge 

of  Taokwankow    5 

3.  Three  Views  of  the  Harbor  of  Chin  Wang  Tao 12 

4.  The  Village  of  Ch'ach'ien  Kow  as  seen  from  a  lofty  tower  on  the 

Great   Wall    21 

5.  The  Great  Wall  climbing  the  Mountains  of  Chihli 28 

6.  The  Great  Wall   of  China   upon  a  map  of  the   United   States, 

occupying  roughly  the  same  latitude  as  in  the  Central 
Kingdom  33 

7.  The  First  Gate  in  the  Great  Wall,  which  is  also  the  South  Gate 

of  Shanhaikwan   35 

8.  "The  Last  Gate"  in  the  Great  Wall,  which  is  also  the  West  Gate 

of  Kiayukwan,  1250  miles  from  the  "First  Gate" 35 

9.  Outside  the  Mule-Horse   Pass.     The  Wall   is   seen   ascending  to 

the  utmost  summit  of  the  mountain ! 37 

10.  The  Junction  of  the  Great  Wall  with  the  City  Wall  of  Shanhai- 

kwan.    The  Pavilion  was  erected  to  the  God  of  Literature .  .       39 

11.  Curious  Circular  Tower  outside  the  Malan  Pass  in  the  Province 

of  Chihli.  It  is  so  situated  that  the  nearby  Gate  in  the 
Great  Wall  is  effectually  guarded    39 

12.  Buddhist    Temple    of    Almsgiving,    near    the    City    of    Flowering 

Obedience   40 

13.  Over  4,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  overlooking  the  Pass  of  the 

Lily    Pool    42 

14.  View  of  the  Great  Wall  north  of  Peking,  where  the  tourists  go 

to  see  the  most  wonderful  wonder  in  the  world.  Notice 
width,  excellent  workmanship,  and  different  style  of  brick 
work   arising   from  the   terreplain 44 

15.  Notice  the  construction  of  the  Wall.     This  fashion  is  seen  in  lofty 

mountain   regions  near   the   Eastern  Y 46 

16.  Near  the  Eastern  Y  in  the  Great  Wall *8 

17.  Temple  dedicated  to  the  God  of  War  at  the  Mule-Horse  Pass 

in   the   Great   Wall 53 

18.  Top  of  Section  of  Mountain  Wall  sealed  with  mortar  and  stone. 

Mule-Horse  Pass   55 

19.  Guardian  Gods  at  the  Mule-Horse  Pass 56 

20.  Side  view  of  the  "Tourists  Great  Wall"  north  of  Peking 58 

xi 


rii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGE 

21.  Overlooking  Lienhwachih.     Within  one  hundred  miles  of  Peking. .       60 

22.  The  Great  Wall  west  of  the  Eastern  Y.     Altitude  over  3,500  feet 

above  the   Pacific   Ocean 62 

23.  A  superb  view  of  the  Wall,  ascending  a  mountain  over  4,000  feet 

high.  The  view  was  taken  from  a  lofty  cliff  near  to,  but 
west  of  the  Eastern  Y 65 

24.  The  Veneering  of  cut  stone  has  fallen  away  exposing  the  rubble 

construction  inside.  This  is  peculiar  to  mountain  regions. 
Northeast  of  the  Thirteen  Tombs 67 

25.  The  celebrated  "Language  Arch,"  or  Hexagonal  Gateway  at  the 

Nankow  Pass.  The  North  Face  is  here  shown  (the  South 
Face  is  the  same  design).  The  Arch,  the  crown  and  haunches 
of  which  form  the  sides  of  a  hexagon,  is  20  feet  across  at  the 
base,  30  feet  through,  and  has  5  Buddhas  on  each  side  of  the 
flat  haunches.  In  the  perpendicular  wall  on  either  side  are 
large  tablets  of  granite  with  inscriptions  in  divers  languages       69 

26.  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin  in  the  Western  Hills  near  Peking 71 

27.  Coal  Hill,  inside  the  Imperial  Palace  Grounds,  Peking,  where  the 

Last  of  the  Mings  hanged  himself 71 

28.  Three  thousand   feet   above  the  sea.     The  Great  Wall  ascending 

a  mountain  north  of  the  Thirteen  Tombs 74 

29.  Tower  No.  41  Ch's  Tzu  at  Tushancheng 76 

30.  How  the  Wall  climbs  the  ridge  of  Ssweikow  north  of  the  Wutai 

Shan  78 

31.  A  Picturesque  View   80 

32.  At  the  Taotuan  K'ou 85 

33.  Near  Lienhwachih  not   far   from   Eastern  Y 85 

34.  Mark  the  line  of  the  Tower  Wall  at  the  left.     Near  Lienhwachih  87 

35.  Granary   School  in   Liaochao    90 

36.  A    view    in    the    Imperial    Ming    Reservation,    situated    north    of 

Peking  in  the  Metropolitan  Province  of  Chihli 90 

37.  North  of  Peking  is  scenery  which  in  the  future  will  attract  the 

tourists  and  travelers  of  the  world.  The  ensemble  of  the 
Great  Wall  here  rivals  anything  in  ancient  Greece 92 

38.  The  historic  "Cliff  Tower"   Sanholow.     Notice  the  three  distinct 

fashions  of  construction.  Four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea 
and  about  300  miles  from  the  Gulf  of  Chihli 94 

39.  Gate  in  the  Great  Wall  at  Kalgan 97 

40.  The  Arsenal  Tower  to  Paishih  Kou.     White  Stone  Pass,  sixty  li 

from   Futuyeh,  containing  two  interesting  tablets 99 

41.  Futuyeh    Pass,    showing    exceptionally    fine    workmanship.     Note 

decorations  over  the  doorways 99 

42.  The  "right-angle"    fortifications  at   the  Yiyuankow  of  the   Great 

Wall  101 

43.  A  detached  tower  at  Haiyeh  in  Chihli.     Granite  foundation  rest- 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING    PAGE 

ing  on  the  living  rock,  and  brick  work  rising  to  the  top  of 
the  battlements.  Superb  workmanship.  Great  Wall  in  the 
distance     ]  03 

44.  Two  views  of  ruins  of  the  Great  Wall  at  Shiching.  Twenty  li 
from  Gingpien,  in  the  Ordos  Country.  The  lower  picture 
shows  a  house  built  into  the  Wall 106 

43.  In   the  Ordos   Country.     Portions   of  the  Great   Wall   have   been 

completely  covered  and  preserved  by  the  sand 1 08 

46.  Loess   Cone  of  a   Great  Wall   Tower.     The  brick   veneering   has 

wholly  disappeared    110 

47.  The  Ruins  of  the  Last  Tower  in  the  Great  Wall 110 

48.  Desert  Hamster   l  12 

49.  "Kangaroo  Rat."     Jerboa   112 

50.  A  Chinese  "Pygmy"  or  Dwarf  and  a  Giant  near  the  Great  Wall 

East  of  Yenkingchow    115 

51.  Moone,  the  Great  Detective 117 

52.  Black  Dog  and  the  girl-faced  Quin 117 

53.  The  Bird  of  the  Great  Wall:  The  Indian  Blue  Magpie 120 

54.  John  Gwadey,   Esq.     The  small   picture  in  the  upper  left   hand 

corner  shows  how  he  appeared  when  our  expedition  reached 
Kiayukwan   124 

55.  The  eight   famous   Churtons   Kumbum,   on   the  border   of   Tibet; 

also  the  Temple  of  the  Golden  Roof 126 

56.  The   Beautiful   Bridge   at   Chinchow,   the   ancestral  house  of  the 

Chins    126 

57.  In  Oldest  China:  Natives  of  the  Ordos  Country  near  Hwchi 131 

58.  A  near  view  of  the  sealed  Pass  of  Huangholu 133 

59.  The  Great  Wall  north  of  Tsunhwafu 135 

60.  A  section  of  the  Northern  Loop  of  the  Great  Wall 138 

61.  In  the  region  of  the  Picturesque  Pass.     Superb  view  of  the  Great 

Wall  erected  by  the  Emperor  Wan  Li  at  Chachienkow.  The 
Wall   follows  the  natural  contour  of  the  mountain 140 

62.  Photograph  taken   from  a  lofty  elevation,   showing  the  Terraced 

Wall  in  the  foreground,  and  the  main  line  of  the  Great  Wall 
on  the  sky  line.  Overlooking  the  Picturesque  Pass,  Chachien- 
kow.    Altitude    4,000    feet 143 

63.  The  South  Pagoda  of  Ninghia  City  of  the  Quiet  Summer.     Native 

skill  and  artistic  design  united  to  produce  this  strictly  oriental 
structure.  Its  size  and  decorations  command  the  admiration 
of  the  beholder.  Like  all  pagodas  it  has  an  odd  number  of 
stories     147 

64.  Spurs  run  off  from  the  main  line  of  the  Great  Wall  to  protect  a 

hill  overlooking  the  east  and  west  structure.     The  above  is  one 

of  many  between  the  Yellow  Sea  and  the  Yellow  River 149 

65  One  of  the  two  large  Pagodas  of  Liangchow,  Kansu.     This  beau- 


xiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

..„,,.,„  ,  ,  FACING  PAGE 

tiful  bit  of  scenery  is  immediately  in  front  of  the  Buddhist 
Convent  of  Nuns 156 

66.  At  the   famous  Loraa  Pass  in  the  Great  Wall.     Fortified   Camp 

in   the   Pass   itself.     Near  Tsunhwachow 158 

67.  Arsenal  Tower  at  the  Chiankuling  Pass 163 

68.  Section   of   a   Tower 163 

69.  One  of  the  beautiful  Towers  at  Copper  Green  Pass 167 

70.  A    famous    opening    in   the    Great    Wall,    the    Loma    Gate.     The 

fracture  in  the  otherwise  well  preserved  masonry  is  a  relic 

of  an  earthquake 167 

71.  The  Great  Wall  as  seen  at  the  Narkow  Pass,  showing  the  Pa-ta- 

ling    Gate    170 

72.  Peculiar   doubling   of   the   Great   Wall   east    of   the    Loma   Pass. 

Notice  the  entrance  to  the  tower   is  through  the  inner  port 

cut   down    174 

73.  A  very  remarkable  view  of  the  Great  Wall  at  Natzu  Yu 179 

74.  A  Fortified   Farmhouse  near  Tu   Nien   Tse  in   the  Province  of 

Kantsu    183 

75.  A  Picturesque  Pailo  at  Yungchang  Hsieu  in  Kansu  Province....     183 

76.  The  Great  Wall  at  the  Shweikwan  Pass.     Notice  the  extraordinary 

curve  in  the  masonry  and  admire  the  grit  and  skill  of  the  men 
who  planned    and   built 186 

77.  A  superb  view  of  the  lofty  Huangholu  Pass  and  environment . .  .     190 

78.  I   asked   at   Liangchow  and   words   replied:   "In   the  year  of   the 

Mohammedan  Rebellion  the  faces  of  the  dead  could  not  be 
recognized,  so  they  collected  the  whitened  bones  and  erected 
the  White  Bones  Pagodas  to  remember  them !" — Black  Dog's 
Diary     195 

79.  The  towers  here  have  three  sets  of  ports  to  each.    There  are  battle- 

ments on  both  sides  as  if  to  defend  from  friend  or  foe.     East 

of   the   Yellow   River 197 

80.  A    superb    view   of   the    Great   Wall   ascending    from   the   lofty 

Huangho  Lu  Pass   204 

81.  Two  views  of  the  same  tower  at  Shichingtsi,  Province  of  Kansu. 

The  pictures  show  how  the  Wall  was  joined  on  to  the  Towers     206 

82.  A    Picturesque    View 213 

83.  The  Club   House  and   Stock   Exchange  in   Sianfu,  where   the  ex- 

change price  of  Silver  is  fixed  every  day 220 

84.  Two  Memorial  Arches  near  Sianfu,  erected  by  Governor  Lu,  one 

in  honor  of  his  mother,  and  the  other  in  memory  of  his  wife. 
Ten  miles  from  the  Mound  of  China 227 

85.  In  the  Loess   Country,   showing   a  new   bridge  constructed   after 

an   ancient   design    of  tied-loess 231 

86.  Fcng-huan-tai   in    Hsienyang,  one  of  the  oldest   buildings  in   the 

city.     It  was  erected   in   honor  of  a  Lady  of  the   State  of 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING   PAGE 


Chin,  B.C.  897,  who  could  blow  the  musical  instrument  called 
Siao.  She  was  not  to  be  given  in  marriage  to  any  man  who 
could  not  play  the  same  instrument.  Finally  a  poor  man 
came  who  played  the  Siao.  He  was  set  to  play  three  days 
and  three  nights,  when  the  King  of  the  Wind  came  and  took 
them  both  away,  no  one  knows  where  to  this  day.  The 
father  of  the  lady  erected  this  Feng-heung-tai  to  her  honor. .     234 

87.  Historical  Bridge  near  Hsienyang,  10  li  from  the  Ancient  Capital 

of  Chin.  The  pillars  are  made  of  round  stones  similar  to 
those  used  on  threshing  floors 238 

88.  A  binary  granite  base  resting  on  igneous  rocks  partially  supports 

a  Wall  making  an  almost  perpendicular  ascent 245 

89.  The  Good  Luck  Pailo  which  stands  two  li  east  of  Kiayukwan,  which 

city   is   seen   in  the   distance 252 

90.  The  Last  Gate  of  the  doomed  city  of  Ku  Chang  Tsi,  situated 

65  li  west  of  Shan  Tan,  Kansu 252 

91.  A   Picturesque   Flour   Mill    at    Shueimokwan,    Kansu.     Many   of 

these  horizontal  wheel  constructions  are  seen  in  Northwest 
China     264 

92.  View  of  Chin  An  from  Temple  Hill 277 

93.  Ancient  "Tower  of  Babel"  Fort  on  the  Great  Wall  near  Yulinfu, 

five  days  west  of  the  Yellow  River.  The  usual  tower  appears 
considerably  out  of  repair,  at  the  left  of  the  picture.  Sand 
has    drifted   over   the   Wall 284 

94.  Irrigating  wheels  in  the  Yellow  River.    Hoisting  the  water  slightly 

higher  than  the  fields,  it  is  led  to  the  desired  points  by  shallow 
trenches     307 

95.  An  Evangelist  of  the  China  Inland  Mission  who  labors  near  the 

Great  Wall    307 

96.  Two  views  of  the  ruins  of  the  Tibetan  or  Sining  Loop  of  the 

Great  Wall.  This  stretch  does  not  appear  on  the  present 
maps    318 

97.  The  author's  fast  mule  caravan  crossing  a  desert  stretch  near  the 

Western   End  of  the   Great   Wall 323 

98.  A  Tibetan  encampment  of  black  tents  as  seen  by  the  expedition 

when  on  Taobo  Shan,  Northeastern   Tibet 325 

99.  Henry  French  Ridley,  hero  of  Singing  in  Tibetan  Costume 332 

100.  This  photograph  of  the  modest  but  beautiful  China  Inland  Mission 

home  at  Chinchow  was  taken  from  the  roof  of  the  Church..     334 

101.  Rubbings  of  two  sides  of  the  famous  I  Shan  Tablet  in  the  Forest 

of  Monuments,   Sianfu,   Shensi,   China 339 

102.  Dr.  Geil  and  one  of  his  guides  on  the  Ta  Obo  Shan  in  the  Koko 

Nor  Country  of  Tibet 343 

103.  Northeast  of  the  Thirteen  Tombs.    Showing  double  parapets  for 

reversible    defense 346 


xvi  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGE 

104.  Two  Prominent  Gentlemen  of  Northwest  China 350 

105.  A  Tibetan   Prince    350 

106.  Kiayukwan    and    the   Great    Wall,   as   seen    from    the    Southwest 

desert     355 

107.  East  Gate  of  the  Suburb  Kiayukwan,  Western  End  of  the  Great 

Wall  357 

108.  Inside  the  East  Gate  of  Kiayukwan 359 

109.  Goitre  is  the  "Disease  of  the  Great  Wall."     Supposed  to  be  caused 

by   impure    water.     Many   persons    are   seen    with   it,   among 
those  living  along   the   Wall 362 

110.  This  tablet  stands  alone  on  the  desert  outside  the  west  gate  of 

Kiayukwan,  final  fortification  of  China.     "The  Martial  Bar- 
rier  of   all   under    Heaven" 364 

111.  The  Big  White  North  River.     The  western  end  of  the  Great  Wall 

is  seen  on  the  left  abutting  the  verge  of  a  perpendicular  cliff 
some  200   feet  high    366 

112.  The  western  end  of  the  Great  Wall  overlooking  the  big  White 

North  River    371 

113.  Newton  Hayes,  M.A 375 

1 1 4.  Shweikou   in    November 378 

115.  The   Magic   Meteor,   which    deflected   the   Wall    from    its    natural 

course    378 

116.  "The  Last  Brick."     Dr.  Geil  at  the  end  of  the  Great  Wall 382 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF 
CHINA 


CHAPTER  I 

Merely  Preliminary 

THERE  IS  A  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA. 

So  much  the  geographies  tell  everybody;  but  they  do 
not  make  it  clear  whether  it  is  built  of  china,  or  why 
it  is,  or  how  long  it  is,  or  how  long  it  has  been.  There 
is  developing  a  Panama  Canal,  and  the  journals  are  in 
ecstasy  because  a  few  billion  cubic  yards  of  earth  are 
being  moved.  There  was  no  steam  machinery  to  build 
the  Wall,  yet  General  Grant  estimated  that  it  took 
as  much  work  as  would  have  built  all  our  railroads,  all 
our  canals,  and  nearly  all  our  cities.  We  have  an  ig- 
norance about  China  almost  as  colossal  as  that  land. 

Our  education  consists,  in  part,  of  learning  various 
languages,  Thribbaty  and  Slapyak  and  other  antique 
dialects  which  only  introduce  to  literatures  whose  very 
dregs  have  long  since  been  examined  to  the  last  ounce. 
Why  not  try  Chinese  for  a  change?  then  we  might  find 
out  what  we  have  long  borrowed  from  the  Central 
Kingdom,  and  what  else  it  has  to  pass  on  to  us.  They 
are  widening  their  curriculum,  why  should  not  we  widen 
ours? 

Chin  took  a  liberal  view  of  education,  and  was  anti- 
classic.  He  destroyed  the  old  books,  and  so  encouraged 
one  of  his  generals  to  invent  a  new  style  of  writing, 
which  brought  books  within  the  reach  of  all.  both  to 
compose  and  to  read.    This  was  the  Chin  who  built  the 

3 


4  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Wall.  He  defended  his  country,  he  unified  it,  he 
reformed  its  education.  He  stands  preeminent  in  the 
same  class  with  Peter  the  Great,  Alfred  the  Great, 
Bismark.  Only  these  men  of  heroic  mould  too 
often  stunt  originality  in  others,  so  that  no  successor 
arises  to  carry  on  their  work.  Chin  was  great  enough 
to  know  himself  great.  He  was  equal  to  at  least  two 
men,  so  began  his  allocutions  "We."  Nowadays  every 
petty  journalist  counts  himself  one,  and  his  press  an- 
other, so  that  they  talk  as  We. 

The  Wall  is  the  product  of  Chin.  He  built  roads 
over  his  new  domains,  he  put  the  scholars  low  and  the 
farmers  high.  The  land  that  produced  one  Chin  may 
produce  another.  One  built  a  Wall  to  keep  the  for- 
eigner out;  another  may  stride  over  that  Wall  to  put 
the  foreigner  in  his  proper  place.  Iran  had  a  long  turn 
at  leading  the  world,  Egypt  another;  Europe  has  had 
several  centuries  as  peace-maker  and  now  begins  to  feel 
tired.  Will  America  or  China  jostle  to  the  front  next? 
The  nation  is  astir  and  gaining  momentum.  Will  it  find 
a  chauffeur  able  to  grasp  the  wheel? 

THE     GREAT     WALL     SEPARATES     TWO 
EPOCHS,  TWO  LANDS,  TWO  RACES. 

It  separates  the  age  of  myth  from  the  age  of  fact. 
While  it  is  not  true  that  everything  in  China  before  the 
Great  Wall  is  prehistoric  yet  its  builder  deliberately  did 
his  best  to  destroy  the  records  of  earlier  ages,  and  so 
far  succeeded  that  the  piecing  together  of  the  relics  is 
often  a  true  Chinese  puzzle. 

But  the  blow  dealt  at  literature  brought  a  reaction, 


When  you  help,  help  effectively  ;  when  you  rescue, 
make  rescue  real. 

and  scholars  enshrined  in  multitudinous  documents  the 
doings  of  subsequent  rulers,  so  that  the  clear  light  of 
history  shines  on  every  succeeding  age.  The  Chinese 
know  the  course  of  events  so  accurately  that  they  can 
afford  to  smile  at  the  western  conceptions  of  their 
annals.  Hear  the  Relation  of  Pinto:  "In  one  single 
prison  two  leagues  square,  are  kept  three  hundred  thou- 
sand prisoners,  appointed  still  for  the  repair  of  the 
Great  Wall.  .  .  .  The  king  of  Tartary  sat  down  before 
Peking  with  one  million  two  hundred  thousand  foot, 
six  hundred  thousand  horse,  seventeen  thousand  ships, 
and  eighty  thousand  rhinoceroses  that  carried  the  bag- 
gage for  his  army."  The  veracious  Pinto  got  his 
information  from  the  French,  certainly  not  from  the 
Chinese.  Mendoza,  too,  has  a  fine  idea  of  the  size  of 
Peking,  asserting  that  a  man  mounted  on  a  good  horse 
riding  from  morn  until  night  will  have  much  ado  to 
cross  the  city  within  the  walls.  Such  fables  might 
amuse  the  credulous  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  but 
the  Wall  marks  off  the  period  of  myth  for  the  Chinese, 
and  since  its  time  abundant  facts  have  been  accessible 
to  all. 

The  Wall  separates  two  lands.  To  the  cold  north  lie 
lands  that  may  tempt  the  miner  in  search  of  gold,  or  the 
breeder  who  desires  wide  prairies  for  his  mares  to  roam 
over.  To  the  south  are  sunnier  lands  whose  fertility 
encourages  the  agriculturalist  to  delve  in  the  rich  soil 
and  extract  abundant  crops. 

The  Wall  separates  two  races.  To  the  south  is  the 
black-haired  race,  as  its  members  term  themselves,  but 


6  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

to  us  their  outstanding  mark  is  that  they  are  yellow. 
To  the  north  may  now  be  found  the  outward-flowing 
white  race.  The  destinies  of  the  world  are  committed 
to  these  two.  The  business  of  the  globe  will  be  trans- 
acted in  the  tongue  of  one  or  the  other.  But  the 
religion  of  the  world,  the  gift  of  neither,  may  yet  be 
the  heritage  of  both.  Born  in  Asia,  adopted  in  Europe, 
developed  in  America,  Christianity  is  found  by  one 
who  travels  along  the  Great  Wall  a  potent  force  in 
these  regions.  Here  the  aboriginal  code  is  effete,  the 
Indian  Buddhism  is  degenerate,  but  faith  in  Christ  can 
nerve  the  frail  to  endurance  and  victory. 

The  Wall  is  the  sign  of  separation;  the  Cross,  of 
union.  The  one  is  the  greatest  monument  of  human 
industry,  the  other  of  divine  love.  The  one,  though 
obsolete,  has  a  noble  history;  the  other  has  its  noblest 
triumphs  yet  to  come,  though  already  it  commemorates 
the  greatest  sacrifice  of  all  ages. 

Wm.  Edgar  Geil. 

Doylestown,  Pennsylvania,  United  States  of  America, 

Seventh  Day  of  the  9th  Moon  of 

the  Best  Year  of  the  Christian  Cycle.  .  . 

1909.  .  .  . 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Thrilling  Prospect 

A  journey  all  along  the  Great  Wall !  We  had  longed 
to  make  it,  and  now  almost  feverishly  eager,  we  had 
arrived  at  the  City  of  the  Golden  Gate  to  find  the  great 
black  ocean  greyhound  with  her  strong  sinews  relaxed, 
taking  a  good  rest  in  one  of  the  kennels  off  the  San 
Francisco  pier.  The  monstrous  ship  was  coaling  up 
for  the  long  run  and  there  was  only  the  suggestion  of  a 
quiver  in  the  mighty  muscles.  But  we  knew  that  the 
powerful  heart,  now  merely  quivering,  was  purposely 
inactive  for  the  nonce;  soon  it  would  begin  to  beat  and 
pump  life,  energy  and  activity  into  every  part  of  her 
mighty  organism,  and  drive  her  huge  bulk  through 
the  crested  billows,  nilly-willy — in  sunshine  and  storm 
toward  the  one  object  of  our  intense  desire — the  Great 
Wall  of  China — and  that  we  would  be  on  board ! 

And  then  when  a  few  days  after,  the  stately  steamer 
drew  grandly  out  from  the  wharf  and  that  ceaseless 
heart  throb  of  the  engines  began,  our  thoughts  ran 
ahead  and  outpaced  even  her  wondrous  speed ;  their  drift 
was  just  parallel  to  the  thoughts  of  a  man  mightier  than 
most  men,  an  emperor  of  indomitable  will  and  resist- 
less push,  who  lived  hundreds  of  years  before  this  trans- 
Pacific  muscle  of  navigation  was  invented — before 
Christ  was  born.  We  were  actually  going  to  see  the 
monumental  evidence  of  his  masterly  activity!     Not 


8  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

only  to  see  it  but  to  walk  on  it,  explore  it,  over  hill,  down 
dale,  along  the  tortuous  alignment,  from  start  to  finish. 
Our  unshaken  determination  was  to  do  the  work  thor- 
oughly, not  as  the  superficial  traveler  who  ate  lunch  on 
the  structure  and  then  took  ship  and  wrote  an  account 
of  the  Great  Wall  on  board  for  the  delectation  and  en- 
lightenment of  an  ignorant  public,  but  so  complete  that 
the  future  historian  of  the  Wall  would  find  little  to 
write  about  unless  he  pirated  our  notes.  By  dint  of  per- 
severance and  some  hardship  perhaps,  we  expected  to 
make  certain  discoveries  that  would  benefit  not  only  our 
own  people  but  indirectly  the  unconquerable  yellow 
race,  now  fully  awake  and  advancing  by  leaps  and 
bounds  toward  rank  materialism  or  toward  Christianity, 
as  our  readers  shall  choose. 

Many  objects  in  China,  of  decent  antiquity,  carrying 
traditions  of  uncanny  happenings,  are  said  by  the 
Chinese  people  to  chen  ching,  or  be  haunted.  The  state- 
ment has  never  been  made  so  far  as  we  know  but  it  must 
be  so  a  fortiori,  that  the  very  ancient  Wall  of  China  is 
also  haunted  in  various  places.  The  thought  occurred 
to  us  that  we  might  set  in  motion  among  the  Chinese  a 
new  tradition — everything  must  have  a  start,  even  a 
tradition— about  a  wild  western  man  of  prodigious 
height  and  bulksome  weight  who  traversed  the  brick  pile 
of  Chin.  Then  we  pictured  to  our  mind  the  myth,  ripe 
with  age,  as  the  chiliads  advanced — a  huge  specter  one 
hundred  feet  high  striding  half  a  mile  at  a  step  along 
the  northern  frontier,  to  the  consternation  of  the 
populace! 

Obversely,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Wall  haunted  us. 


mmTm  9 

Adapt  the  remedy  to  the  disease. 

Whether  the  ship  cut  the  brine  in  midocean  or  rested  in 
the  peaceful  bosom  of  fair  Hawaii,  whether  she  plunged 
madly  to  be  free  from  anchor  in  a  less  placid  harbor  or 
shook  herself  from  moorings  for  a  last  long  run  through 
a  stormy  main  to  Yokohama,  it  made  no  difference; 
there  was  the  1,200  miles  of  Wall,  instinct  with  life,  al- 
ways present  in  our  brain.  We  could  not  rid  ourself  of 
it.  Thoughts  of  self,  the  presidential  election,  the  Balkan 
volcano  muttering  and  smoking,  or  even  the  peaceful 
meadow  brooks  of  Doylestown,  Pennsylvania,  were 
sternly  debarred.  We  ate  with  the  Wall,  slept  with  the 
Wall,  thought  Wall.  Its  bricky  length  would  twist  it- 
self into  indescribable  shapes — into  pecular  contortions. 
We  fancied  an  immense  arch  from  sea  to  desert  and 
under  it  the  great  events  that  have  shaped  and  re-shaped 
this  planet  earth,  changes  that  have  transmuted  the 
world  like  the  changes  in  a  panorama  or  that  have  deline- 
ated the  earth  with  ineradicable  marks.  The  Roman 
Empire  at  the  acme  of  its  pomp  and  power  under  the 
indomitable  Julius  just  tottering  to  ebb  and  ruin,  the 
beginnings  of  Britain  and  all  the  now  powerful  states 
of  Europe,  the  great  battles  that  are  written  in  history 
and  hundreds  more  unwritten  conflicts  on  the  field  when 
blood  flowed  like  water  in  agonizing  contests  for  su- 
premacy; battles  of  books  and  brains,  smash-ups  of 
empires,  discoveries  of  continents,  of  true  science  to  be 
substituted  for  sorcery,  astrology,  alchemy,  with  the 
whole  progeny  of  Black  Art.  And  under  the  arch,  too, 
stood  out  prominently  in  bold  relief  the  cross  of  Christ. 
Then  suddenly,  as  if  by  magic,  appeared  the  Wall  in 


10  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

belted  form,  inclosing  in  a  crowded  area  the  graves  of 
the  mighty  in  all  lands,  crumbled  to  dust  long  ago,  while 
the  bricks  of  Chin  Shih  Huang  still  cohere;  silent  wit- 
nesses to  a  splendid  logical  fact  that  these  dead,  inanimate 
things  cannot  outlive  the  minds  and  souls  of  the  men 
who  contrived  them.  Bricks  and  bones  must  crumble 
away  like  everything  else  sublunary,  but  the  mental 
machine  that  brought  such  things  as  the  Great  Wall  to 
pass  can  never  moulder  and  rot. 

Thus  the  Wall  danced  before  us  in  ever-varying 
shapes,  now  rolling  itself  together  like  a  scroll,  now 
stretching  itself  out  to  its  full  length,  again  resolving 
itself  into  all  sorts  of  geometrical  figures, — triangles, 
parallelograms,  circles, — until  we  could  almost  fancy 
the  Wall  to  be  some  agile  imp  playing  hide  and  seek  in 
our  imagination,  instead  of  the  great  structure  that 
some  lunar  inhabitant  might  see  like  a  black  welt  across 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

Things  that  exist  in  idea  must  exist  in  re.  As  those 
shadowy  ghosts  leaped  before  us  we  realized  that  phan- 
toms would  develop  into  facts,  and  that  an  actual  Wall 
would  soon  materialize.  Then  the  ship  reached  Yoko- 
hama. We  disembarked  mechanically,  but  no  sooner 
had  we  set  foot  on  terra  firma  than  the  whole  enterprise 
became  real.  Two  tablets  appeared  to  our  mind,  one 
at  Shanhaikwan  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  wall,  the 
other  at  Kiayiikwan,  twelve  hundred  miles  farther 
on  toward  sunset.  On  the  one  was  inscribed,  "Heaven 
(God)  made  the  Sea  and  the  Mountains,"  on  the  other, 
"The  Martial  Barrier  of  All  under  Heaven." 

As   the   traveler   steps  ashore   on   trans-Mississippi 


p.  *  j&  m  u 

Men,  not  walls,  make  a  city. 

ground  at  New  Orleans  he  sees  at  the  station  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railway  a  large  arch  bearing  this 
legend,  "Sunset  Route."  After  days  of  travel  through 
desert  and  wood  on  the  splendid  overland  mail  train  he 
alights  at  Oakland,  California,  he  beholds  a  similar 
arch  with  the  same  letters  in  semicircular  form.  These 
two  arches  terminate  the  parallel  bars  of  steel  which 
engirdle,  in  part,  the  lands  on  which  the  peaceful  in- 
habitants of  our  beloved  America  dwell.  Here  on  the 
littoral  of  the  Far  East,  which  was  to  be  our  terminus  a 
quo,  was  a  tablet  instead  of  an  arch,  terminating  a 
mighty  embankment  instead  of  steel  rails,  conceived 
before  the  Christian  era  by  one  who  acknowledged  High 
Heaven  as  the  creator  of  the  unnavigated  seas,  and  the 
builder  of  the  massive  rock  piles  that  frown  on  little 
frail  man,  on  the  frontiers  of  China! 

After  we  had  reembarked,  and  as  we  passed  through 
the  seas  where  the  Japanese  Admiral  Togo  annihilated 
the  Russian  Baltic  fleet,  our  thoughts  dwelt  for  the 
time  on  the  doughty  sailors  of  the  Sunrise,  who  pre- 
ferred death  to  defeat,  and  who  actually  did  to  the  Rus- 
sians what  Van  Tromp  threatened  once  to  do  to  the 
British — sweep  the  fleet  from  the  sea  with  a  besom  of 
destruction. 

These  were  all  men  of  like  passions  with  Chin  Shih 
Huang— Blake,  Van  Tromp,  Togo,  Chin!— the  Eng- 
lishman, Dutchman,  Japanese,  Chinese!  What  quar- 
tet of  men  could  shape  history  as  they  did?  And 
although  Blake's  dead  ashes  were  afterwards  cast  scorn- 
fully into  the  water  by  certain  contemptible  objects  of 


12 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


history,  and  Chin  has  come  down  through  perverted 
tradition  merely  as  a  book  burner  and  a  student  under- 
taker, the  fact  stripped  of  the  gewgaws  of  prejudice 
and  hate  still  remains:  Blake  and  Chin  molded  nations 
as  a  potter  molds  clay. 

"E'en  in  our  ashes  live  their  wonted  fires." 
But  with  the  ideas  of  Chin  how  much  of  superstition 
and  ignorance  were  mixed!  He  was  groping  in  the 
dark.  The  flashlight  of  a  full  revelation  had  never  been 
flung  prodigally  upon  him,  and  it  may  have  been  his 
thought  to  put  into  material  shape  the  spiritual  idea  of 
a  dragon  monster  whose  gigantic  length  would  serve  as 
a  mascot  and  guardian  to  a  reconstructed  empire!  Or 
did  he  plan  to  build  a  barrier  hundreds  of  feet  high,  as 
the  men  of  Babel  did,  to  shut  off  the  southern  life- 
giving  influences  from  the  fierce  Tartars  of  the  north? 
"We  shall  have  the  opportunity  of  prying  into  every 
available  nook  and  crevice  of  this  Wall  for  evidence 
along  this  line,"  thought  we.  Thus,  equipped  with  eager 
desire  and  ample  facility,  we  leaped  joyfully  ashore  as 
the  ship  touched  the  Far  Eastern  coast  near  Shanhai- 
Kwan! 

r 


&&& 


Headless  Terror— color  of  Are— six  feet,  four  wings— confused  mass  without 
eyes,  or  face,  like  a  yellow  bag.    Not  having  eyes  it  can  only  see  itself. 


.^ 

ab 

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■  .    * 

^^.     ■         **&% 

mSKSS&'w 

Li^V^fc-AiG^JI 

' '   Nl  -^mBHt 

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Sfej  "S**  »-i- 

^m 

^~~^f 

- 

flpp  ***1'1  4  4i  ^  Wu  -s-  -. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
Three  views  of  the  harbor  of  Chin  Wane  tao 


Photo    by    Dr     G     I 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Tragedy  of  Chinwangtao1 

No  sooner  were  our  feet  on  the  rocks  of  Chinwangtao 
than  our  eyes  were  on  the  rugged  cliff  whence  a  prin- 
cess of  Ch'in  plunged  into  the  Yellow  Sea.  She  had 
lost  her  lover,  and  subtle  sadness,  knowing  no  consola- 
tion, flung  the  beautiful  young  princess  from  the  bare 
rock  precipice  to  the  dragon  of  the  deep. 

Since  then  nature  has  joined  the  island  to  the  main- 
land and  now  the  Crescent  breakwaters  extend  ever 
open  arms  to  the  mariners  of  all  nations,  even  when  the 
neighbor  harbors  of  Taku,  Tientsin  and  Newchwang 
are  closed  by  the  hand  of  frost. 

On  this  historic  promontory,  so  intimately  and  so 
tragically  associated  with  the  Great  Wall,  which  lay 
along  the  lofty  mountain  in  full  view,  we  felt  grateful 
to  "The  Cap  of  the  West"2  for  his  choice  rendering  of 
the  ancient  legend  which  has  evidently  descended  from 
the  days  of  the  Great  Emperor,  who  changed  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  east  of  Asia,  introduced  the  editorial  "we," 
burned  quantities  of  useless  literature,  buried  alive 
numbers  of  useless  scholars,  discovered  and  colonized 
Japan,  and  erected  a  massive  monument  to  his  ener- 
getic administration. 

1  Locally  the  name  is  spelled  Chin  Wang  Tao. 

1  Certain  Chinese  literati  speak  of  Dr.  Martin  as  "The  Cap  of  the  West," 
signifying  his  preeminence  in  scholarship. 

13 


14  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

As  a  builder  of  bulwarks  Chin  stands  alone  in  all  his- 
tory. He  certainly  did  not  resemble  a  former  ruler  of 
whom  it  was  said,  "Le  roi  Yen  de  Siu,  avait  des  tendons, 
mais  il  n'avait  pas  d'os."  Chin  had  what  Virgil  calls 
"a  double  backbone" !  Our  interest  in  him  has  reached 
an  altitude  that  offers  and  warrants  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
"The  Only  First." 

THE  TYRANT  OF  CH'IN 

'Twixt  the  mountains  here  and  yon  Eastern  Sea 

Is  the  pivot  of  China's  fate. 
Whatever  your  haste ;  stop,  tether  your  steed, 

And  listen  to  what  I  relate. 

'Neath  this  frowning  Wall  lies  a  buried  past, 

As  bright  as  the  splendors  of  Greece ; 
Six  warring  states  their  arms  lay  down, 

And  submit  to  the  yoke  of  peace. 

In  this  isle  is  the  last  of  his  victims  laid ; 

And  this  isle  bears  the  tyrant's  name ; 
And  as  long  as  the  ages  continue  to  roll, 

His  glory  's  confronted  with  shame. 

A  century  later  than  Philip's  son, 

Who  united  the  Asian  West, 
Had  the  Tyrant  of  Ch'in,  in  the  Farther  East, 

All  his  rival  powers  suppressed. 

From  the  Adrian  shore  to  the  Persian  Gulf, 

Not  wider  the  Grecian  sway ; 
A  structure  that  broke  in  the  builder's  hand — 

But  China  endures  to  this  day. 


Too  many  bricklayers  make  a  lopsided  house. 

"For  the  staves  of  a  cask  use  an  iron  hoop, 

For  rebellious  states  a  chain ; 
While  this  Wall  stands  firm,  a  compact  mass, 

Must  my  empire  aye  remain. 

"Not  merely  to  shield  us  from  foemen  without, 

But  to  punish  domestic  foes ; 
This  Wall  shall  secure  to  millions  of  men, 

Long  ages  of  calm  repose." 

Thus  silently  mused  the  Tyrant  of  Ch'in, 

Nor  was  his  proud  boasting  all  vain, 
For  the  foes  that  he  slew  in  building  his  Wall, 

Were  more  than  in  battle  he'd  slain. 

A  princely  descendant  of  each  fallen  state, 

Was  summoned  to  lead  a  corvee ; 
And  the  sun  stood  still  their  toil  to  prolong, 

So  the  ancient  minstrels  say. 

As  diggers  of  earth  and  hewers  of  stone, 
Here  were  stationed  ten  thousand  men, 

Whose  fathers  in  battle  the  Tyrant  withstood, 
And  their  leader,  a  Prince  of  Yen. 

To  hardship  and  grief  the  young  leader  succumbed, 
His  bones  were  entombed  in  the  Wall; 

No  casket  allowed  him  his  ashes  to  shrine, 
No  funeral  pomp  in  his  hall. 

The  princess  in  vain  for  his  body  had  sought, 

And  when  the  sad  story  she  knew, 
She  refused  to  return  to  her  desolate  home ; 

Was  ever  devotion  more  true? 


16  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

"Not  long  we'll  be  parted,"  the  princess  exclaimed, 
"My  resting  place  near  thee  shall  be !" 

This  said — from  the  top  of  yon  beetling  cliff 
She  threw  herself  into  the  sea. 

'Twas  the  first  Huangti  that  made  China  a  state, 

This  wall  has  his  monument  been ; 
But  those  who  the  tomb  of  his  victim  behold, 

All  curse  the  grim  Tyrant  of  Ch'in. 


ikii 


Body  ofa  home,  wings  of  bird,  tiger  stripes,  lives  in  north  wilderness.    Full 
of  wrongs  for  man. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Only  First 

High  pointed  nose,  slit  eyes,  pigeon  breast  wolf 
voice,  tiger  heart,  stingy,  cringing,  graceless,  is  the 
Chinese  historian's  description  of  the  mighty  man  who 
conceived  the  idea  of  the  Great  Wall  of  China.  In  fact, 
however,  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  "hustlers"  the  world 
has  ever  known,  despite  the  very  uncomplimentary 
remarks  of  the  harsh  historian  Ssu-ma  Ch'ien1  trans- 
lated above  literally  from  the  imperial  history  of  China. 

It  has  been  sagely  remarked  that  this  long  structure 
called  by  the  Chinese  scholars  the  Wanlich'ang  Ch'eng, 
or  Wall  of  Ten  Thousand  Miles,2  could  be  clearly  de- 
fined by  the  mysterious  Man-in-the-Moon,  if  such  an 
individual  exist  and  if  he  is  endowed  with  the  same 
faculties  which  we  possess.  This  alone  should  make  it 
a  most  distinguished  object.  Viewing  the  character  and 
performances  of  Chin3  at  an  interval  of  twenty-one 

'Ssu-ma  Ch'ien,  called  the  Father  of  History,  was  horn  145  n.c. 

2  The  Chinese  mile  or  "li"  is  roughly  the  third  of  an  English  mile.  If 
taken  literally  this  would  work  out  at  3,000  miles  or  thereabouts,  whereas 
the  Great  Wall  is  somewhat  less.  "10,000"  is  often  used  in  a  general 
sense  for  a  large  number. 

'Ch'in  v.  Ts'in.  .  .  .  The  romanization  of  Chinese  sounds  is  of  course 
largely  conventional,  and  no  single  system  can  claim  absolute  accuracy. 
According  to  the  Wade  orthography,  representing  the  Pekingese  or  North- 
ern Mandarin,  the  character  is  written  "Ch'in":  in  Southern  Mandarin  it 
should  appear  as  "Ts'in."  The  inverted  comma  merely  indicates  an 
aspirate,  and  is  inserted  to  distinguish  the  word  from  others  which, 
being  unaspirated,  are  written  "Chin."  But  as  most  persons  pronounce 
2  17 


18 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


hundred  years,  we  observe  impressions,  depressions  and 
expressions  more  marked  on  the  country  and  people  of 
China  by  this  emperor  than  could  possibly  be  made  by 
the  Great  Wall  on  the  lunar  citizen  at  a  distance  one 
hundred  times  as  great  in  miles  as  the  number  of  years 


Chin  Shik  Huang  Ti— Present  day  representation  of  the  man  who  built  the 
Great  Wall.    Sent  to  the  author  by  Dr.  S.  I.  Woodbridge. 

we  look  back  over  in  the  contemplation  of  Chin  Shih 
Huang.  It  was  a  fine  attempt  of  his  to  obliterate 
all  previous  records  and  start  the  world  fresh.  Chin 
had  no  gatling  guns,  men-of-war,  powder  or  steam, 

the  English  word  "Chin"  with  an  unconscious  aspirate,  no  apology  is 
needed  for  styling  the  First   Emperor  "Chin"  instead  of  "Ch'in." 

Throughout  this  work  the  Wade  system  has  been  uniformly  adopted 
except  for  place  names,  which  are  transliterated  according  to  the  system 
in  use  in  the  Imperial  Chinese  Postoffice  and  also  followed  in  the  China 
Inland  Missions'  excellent  "Atlas  of  the  Chinese  Empire."  Hence  such 
seeming  inconsistencies  as  Ch'in  Shih  Huang  and  Chinwang  tao  or  Ts'in- 
wangtao,  where  the  first   syllable  in  each  stands   for  the  same  character. 


m  m.  m  n  19 

Money  moves  the  gods. 

but  for  soaring  ambition,  never  was  there  a  head  or 
heart  on  this  planet,  before  or  since,  that  was  pos- 
sessed of  a  greater  amount  than  this  same  emperor, 
who  lived  two  hundred  years  before  Christ,  when 
Hamilcar  and  Hannibal  went  into  Spain  and  the 
Punic  Wars  broke  out  upon  Europe.  He  has  been 
called  the  Napoleon  of  China,  but  Bonaparte  is  not 
in  the  same  class  with  this  wicked,  wonderful  man. 
One  of  his  first  decrees,  as  recorded  in  history,  ordained 
the  abolition  of  the  use  of  imperial  posthumous  titles, 
declaring  it  his  pleasure  that  "he  should  be  known 
simply  as  Shih  Huang  Ti,  the  First  Emperor;  and  thus 
all  successive  generations  should  be  distinguished  nu- 
merically as  the  second  generation,  the  third  generation, 
and  thus  onward  to  the  ten  thousandth." 

After  having  done  a  great  many  things,  among  which 
may  be  mentioned  the  subjugation  of  a  score  or  so  of 
smaller  states,  the  unification  of  the  empire  and  the 
reported  burial  alive  of  his  fond  grandparents  because 
they  had  treated  him  badly,  he  began  to  cast  about  for 
the  means  to  accomplish  the  ends  of  his  itching,  restless, 
mounting  ambition.  When  the  performances  men- 
tioned above,  in  addition  to  a  great  many  others,  were 
finished,  Chin  had  been  on  the  throne  about  five  and 
twenty  years.1  He  was  now  sole  proprietor  of  a  terri- 
tory which  the  Chinese  historian  says  extended  from 
near  the  equator  to  Korea  on  the  south  and  north,  and 
from  the  Eastern  Sea  to  Shensi  and  Szechwan.     De- 

J  As  king  of  Ch'in,  but  not  as  ruler  of  a  United  China.  He  only 
assumed  the  imperial  title  in  221  b.c,  after  which  he  reigned  twelve  years. 


20  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

ducting  a  tract  to  allow  for  the  statements  of  ancient 
history,  it  may  still  be  said,  with  more  or  less  degree  of 
accuracy,  that  Chin  owned  land  as  wide  in  extent  as 
England,  France,  and  Germany  with  others  thrown  in 
and  put  together. 

The  obstructive  mulishness  of  recent  Chinese  official- 
dom presents  a  strong  contrast  to  the  progressive  policy 
of  our  hero,  from  which  it  may  be  seen  that  China  in 
the  past  two  thousand  years  has  gone  back  in  the  path 
of  progress,  or  in  other  words,  has  backed  the  future 
and  fronted  the  past.  Chin,  who  possessed  immense 
originality,  perhaps  went  too  far  in  his  forward  move- 
ment, but  at  any  rate  there  is,  and  has  been  for  the  past 
two  millenniums,  an  inborn  antipathy,  a  natural  resili- 
ence on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  from  the  liberalism  of 
the  masterful  man  from  whom1  China  is  named  by 
Europeans,  but  not  by  themselves. 

He  changed  the  face  of  the  whole  country.  His  taste 
for  public  achievements  impelled  him  to  do  prodigious 
works  which  can  be  most  favorably  compared  with  the 
grand  works  of  Egypt.  "Many  objects  which  were  in 
bronze,  and  others  in  gold,  were  of  such  weight,  that 
some  of  his  successors  deemed  it  a  considerable  task  to 
remove  them  from  one  city  to  another."  These  statues 
and  other  monuments  were  destined  to  adorn  the  superb 
palace  that  had  been  built  at  his  capital. 

But  the  Chinese  of  his  day  objected  to  such  magnifi- 
cence, when  the  books  of  antiquity  recommended  sim- 
plicity in  all  departments.     They  quoted  multitudinous 

'"That  is  from  the  state  of  Ch'in,"  an  eminent  scholar  subjoins.  We, 
nevertheless,  retain  the  statement  as  it  is  made  in  the  text. 


The  imperial  sword,  though  sharp,  cannot  slay  an 
innocent  man. 

examples  of  princes  who  had  behaved  themselves  differ- 
ently from  the  reckless,  feckless  Chin.  "The  monarch 
in  a  fit  of  irritation,  in  order  to  destroy  the  remembrance 
of  these  ancient  sovereigns  who  were  quoted  continually 
by  the  learned  as  a  reproach  to  his  pomp,  resolved  to 
burn  all  the  books."  And,  as  the  reins  of  government 
were  entirely  in  his  hands,  he  decided  to  reward  himself 
and  abolished  the  title  of  king,  and  used  emperor  in- 
stead; and,  as  his  disregard  and  contempt  of  the  past 
increased,  he  proclaimed  himself  Shih  Huang  Ti,1  or 
Chin,  The  Only  First. 

When  the  antiquity-loving  scholars  protested  against 
his  wanton  unconcern  for  the  precious  past,  The  Only 
First  deliberately  treated  them  with  scant  courtesy:  he 
unceremoniously  buried  about  five  hundred  of  them 
alive  and  carried  out  his  riotous  resolve  to  eliminate  the 
cautious  classics.  The  "useful"  books  which  treated  of 
fortune-telling,  astrology,  agriculture  and  medicine 
were  spared.  If  anybody  was  found  whispering  or 
insinuating  that  his  edition  de  luxe  was  uncanonical, 
the  unlucky  individual  was  promptly  decapitated.  Not 
only  were  the  blind  followers  of  ancient  usage  beheaded, 
but  their  faithful  families  were  exterminated  like 
pestiferous  rats,  and  the  officials  of  the  districts  were 
held  responsible  for  not  stamping  out  all  vestiges  of  the 
pesky,  mouldy,  rusty,  dusty  past.  So  many  scholars 
were  buried  that  melons  grew  in  winter  on  the  spot 

1  The  way  he  hit  on  this  appellation  is  instructive.  Considering  that  he 
had  united  in  himself  the  virtues  of  the  San  Huang  or  three  primordial 
sovereigns  (b.c.  2852-2596)  and  the  Wn  Ti,  five  emperors  that  followed. 
He  joined  their  titles  into  the  one  of  Huang  Ti. 


22  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

above  the  bodies.  "History,"  thought  The  Only  First, 
"shall  begin  with  Me."  His  country  was  divided  into 
thirty-six  prefectures  and  the  people  were  called  "black 
heads"  because  they  wore  dark  caps.1 

But  people  in  those  good  old  days  were  supersti- 
tious and  it  is  no  small  wonder  that  the  emperor  himself 
began  to  observe  portents.  Chin  saw,  or  imagined  he 
saw,  a  foreigner  sixty  feet  high  with  feet  two  yards 
long!  So  it  occurred  to  the  sovereign  to  gather  all  his 
weapons  of  war  that  had  been  used  to  conquer  his 
enemies  and  cast  them  into  twelve  mighty  images  which 
would  rival  this  giant  of  his  active  imagination  in  big- 
ness. Probably  they  did,  if  we  can  believe  the  history 
which  states  that  each  image  weighed  sixty  tons !  They 
were  put  in  his  pet  palace  and  afterwards  destroyed  in 
the  wars  that  followed  the  death  of  their  maker. 

Chin  needed  no  expositions  to  set  business  agog.  At 
his  order  twelve  hundred  wealthy  families  moved  into 
Hienyang,  his  capital.  The  demand  for  luxuries  and 
necessaries  having  been  created,  it  followed,  as  the  night 
the  day,  that  supply  would  be  forthcoming.  To  these 
superstitious  and  commercial  notions,  Chin  added  the 
lust  of  luxury.  His  life  was  not  shrouded  in  dim  mag- 
nificence. He  built  a  wonderful  palace  which  has  been 
variously  described.  The  following  facts  are  taken 
fresh  from  the  imperial  history.  This  palace  was  mag- 
nificent, and  certain  gorgeous  annexes  were  attached  at 
intervals,  the  whole  now  extending  two  hundred  miles. 
In  these  he  corralled  all  the  handsome  women  that  could 

1  Some  authorities  suggest  that  the  Chinese  have  long  been  accustomed 
to  style  themselves  "the  black-headed  race"   from  the  color  of  their  hair. 


%@AA£&&?MftX3rS       23 

If  you  want  to  see  every  one  like  yourself,  you  must 
look  in  your  el  ass. 

be  found  in  his  domains,  and  the  annexes  were  so  numer- 
ous that  it  required  thirty-six  years  for  him  to  be  "at 
home"  in  them  all  at  the  rate  of  one  annex  per  diem. 


ifr 


hiiii in  i 


<1  c= 


Flying  Carts  of  Chin's  Day.  One  shoulder,  three  eyes,  make  carts  and  fly  long 
distances  in  the  air.    Very  dangerous  people. 

Stated  mathematically,  the  number  would  be  13,140 — 
far  in  advance  of  Solomon,  third  king  of  Israel,  whose 
heart  was  turned  by  his  numerous  wives.  In  conse- 
quence of  his  luxury,  the  emperor  grew  more  supersti- 


24  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

tious  and  suspicious.  Being  told  there  was  an  island  of 
the  sea  in  which  certain  genii  made  their  abode,  he  fitted 
out  an  expedition  to  discover,  if  possible,  this  enchanted 
ground.  Several  hundred  men  and  women  were  dis- 
patched on  the  voyage  of  discovery  and  were  never 
heard  from  again.  The  annals  of  Japan  tell  how  they 
arrived  safely  and  settled  down  in  their  new  home. 

But  his  superstitions  and  suspicions  were  probably 
the  occasion  for  beginning  the  work  of  the  Great  Wall, 
for  having  been  informed  of  a  prophecy  which  foretold 
his  destruction  by  the  Huns,  Chin  mobilized  an  army  of 
300,000  men  to  work  (and  fight,  if  necessary)  on  this 
great  structure.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Chinese 
pen,  or  brush,  which  afterwards  proved  so  powerful,  was 
invented  by  a  soldier.  In  this  period  of  antiquity  the 
principles  of  capillary  attraction  were  not  understood. 
But  a  knowledge  of  practical  physics  was  necessary. 
The  astute  Chinese  discovered  that  if  the  hair  of  the 
goat  which  formed  the  brush  of  the  pen  was  soaked  in 
lime  water  the  ink  would  "run"  and  the  pen  would  be 
rendered  serviceable.  Presage  of  the  fountain  pen! 
Once  put  an  ovum  of  idea  into  the  hatchery  of  the  hu- 
man brain  and  something  will  come  of  it  in  the  end, 
even  if  it  be  only  a  fountain  pen  and  even  if  it  takes 
two  thousand  years ! 

Then  Chin  conceived  another  idea.  And  to  carry  it 
out  employed  700,000  workmen.  This  idea  was  to  erect 
a  large  hall  that  would  seat  10,000  people,  a  very  ex- 
tensive building  for  that  age — forerunner  of  the  modern 
auditorium!  But  suspicion,  that  bane  of  the  usurper, 
stirred  him  up  again.    He  was  warned  against  spending 


-^*^^^-H  25 

When  two  tigers  fight,  one  must  come  to  grief. 

two  successive  nights  in  one  place,  so  he  lay  low  as  to 
where  he  slept  o'  nights.  Capital  punishment  was  meted 
out  to  the  informer  who  divulged  this  mighty  secret. 
Under  such  abnormal  conditions  of  life  the  monarch 
became  vindictive — no  one  was  spared;  for  remonstrat- 
ing against  his  action  in  state  affairs,  his  eldest  son  wTas 
banished  and  died  in  exile.  History  states  that  an 
aerolite  fell  about  this  time,  on  which  this  legend  was 
inscribed,  "On  the  death  of  Chin  the  country  will  be 
divided."  The  emperor  suspected  a  trick,  tried  hard  to 
find  out  the  author  of  the  legend,  and  failing  this  he 
decapitated  every  individual  in  the  district  in  which  the 
fateful  stone  had  fallen,  and  reduced  the  aerolite  itself 
to  ashes.  Chin  The  Only  First  then  canonized  the  T'ai 
Shan  or  Sacred  Mountain  of  China  as  it  is  now  known; 
to-day  his  image  is  found  in  one  of  the  temples  of  this 
famous  Mecca,  and  a  plain  shaft  of  granite  fifteen  feet 
high,  three  feet  wide  and  two  feet  thick,  called  the 
"Letterless  Mountain,"  is  said  to  have  been  erected  by 
this  same  prince  who  buried  the  scholars  and  burned  the 
books. 

But  far  more  important  than  the  superstitious  dedi- 
cation of  a  mountain  was  the  introduction  of  the  seal, — 
shadow  of  the  Great  Seal  of  England  and  all  other 
seals  since!  The  original  was  a  curious  representation 
of  birds  and  fish.  Combined  and  translated  into  the 
Chinese  of  to-day  these  symbols  are  shou  ming  yil  Tcien 
chi  shou  yung  cliang.  They  mean  in  English  "I  have 
received  the  decree  from  heaven  and  have  already  en- 
joyed the  age  of  everlasting  prosperity." 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


The  Seal  of  Chin  shih  Huang  Ti,  which  was  the  first  seal  of  China.  The  ancient 
characters  mean :  ''I  have  received  the  Decree  from  Heaven  and  have  already 
enjoyed  the  age  of  everlasting  prosperity. 

The  number  and  variety  of  his  wars,  reforms,  diver- 
sions and  luxuries,  however,  wore  the  emperor  out.  One 
can  imagine  that  he  became  considerably  blase  before 
the  thirty-seven  years  of  his  reign  were  finished.  In  the 
words  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  "the  stage  darkened  before 
the  curtain  fell."  During  one  of  his  excursions  abroad 
throughout  his  dominion,  whilst  in  the  present  province 
of  Shantung  the  emperor  sickened  and  died.    His  min- 


x  ft  #  3£  *  &  %  % i)  £  gg         27 

The  workman  who  would  do  good  work  must  first 
sharpen  his  tools. 

isters  and  attendants  were  alarmed,  for  so  powerful  was 
his  personality  and  so  potent  his  influence  that  the  state 
was  literally  upheld  by  the  man.  News  of  his  death 
coming  before  matters  could  be  arranged  at  the  capital 
some  hundred  miles  away  would  prove  fatal  to  the  mon- 
archy. What  was  to  be  done?  There  were  no  means  at 
hand  for  embalming  the  body  even  if  the  knowledge  of 
this  art  was  known;  they  were  many  days'  journey  from 
the  metropolis  and  the  dreadful  secret  of  the  emperor's 
death  must  be  kept.  But  they  set  out  bravely  for  home. 
Ere  long  the  presence  of  the  dead  Chin  became  manifest 
through  the  olfactories.  Doubts  were  expressed  by  the 
people  who  witnessed  the  imperial  procession  when  the 
prince  appeared  only  in  absentia.  To  remove  these  sus- 
picions the  wily  ministers  bought  a  large  quantity  of 
fish  over  ripe  for  consumption  in  these  more  finicky 
days — and  while  the  smell  was  doubled,  all  doubts  and 
fears  on  the  part  of  the  anxious  public  were  dissipated 
and  allayed.  Thus  the  insanitary,  fishy  cortege  moved 
along  to  the  capital,  diffusing  the  mixed  unfragrant 
odor  of  insanctity  but  dispelling  the  dangerous  doubts 
of  the  people.  But  even  fish  cannot  keep  a  secret  and 
the  truth  came  out  at  last,  but  not  until  arrangements 
were  perfected  for  Chin  the  Second.  The  oldest  son, 
who  was  assisting  in  the  erection  of  the  Great  Wall,  had 
committed  suicide  on  receipt  of  a  lying  letter  purported 
to  have  been  written  by  his  father  and  ordering  him  to 
dispose  of  himself  (obedient  son!)  and  so  it  fell  out 
that  the  next  dutiful  offspring  ascended  the  throne  as 
Chin  the  Second,  or  Chin  Erh  Shih.     This  promising 


28  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

youth  began  his  imperial  life  by  decapitating  all  his 
brothers  and  sisters — there  were  only  twelve  brothers 
and  ten  sisters ;  but  these  twenty-two  persons  whose  only 
guilt  was  the  fact  of  being,  were  ruthlessly  butchered 
along  with  all  their  numerous  connections,  by  this  blood- 
thirsty villain.  His  name  would  not  be  mentioned  in 
this  book  at  all  were  it  not  for  several  acts  of  his  short 
reign  which  had  reference  to  The  Only  First.  In  the 
first  place  he  completed  the  palace  of  the  late  emperor : 
then  he  built  a  splendid  mausoleum  for  his  deceased 
father,  more  from  fear  and  superstition,  we  trow,  than 
from  any  feeling  of  respect  or  veneration.  Old  Chinese 
tombs  are  supposed  to  consist  of  hollowed-out  hills. 
The  history  states  that  Chin  the  Second  prepared  a  tomb 
in  a  mountain  and  furnished  it  with  all  kinds  of  precious 
and  valuable  things ;  that  he  made  a  lake  of  quicksilver 
with  two  quicksilver  rivers  flowing  into  it  which  would 
always  appear  pure  and  clear,1  and  that  in  this  excava- 
tion he  immured  thousands  of  the  wives  and  concubines 
of  the  dead  emperor.  He  shut  the  door  in  the  face  of 
these  wretched  women  and  they  starved  to  death  in  the 
tomb.  On  the  principle  that  dead  men  tell  no  tales,  he 
secretly  devised  an  instrument — some  infernal  machine 
- — that  struck  down  and  killed  every  workman  engaged 
in  constructing  this  veritable  charnel  house.  Those 
were  the  brave  days  of  old!  The  dynasty  of  Chin  The 
Only  First,  set  up  in  so  much  blood,  and  maintained 
with  such  cruelty,  did  not  long  survive  the  death  of  its 

1  The  word  translated  "quicksilver"  is  rather  obscure,  and  other  scholars 
suggest  thai  the  true  meaning  was  "water  limpid  as  silver."  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  modern  legends  have  adopted  the  more  uncanny  version. 


%  %  ±  m  to  M  29 

No  grief  so  great  as  for  a  dead  heart 

founder.  Chin  the  Second  was  unable  to  hold  the  half- 
civilized  chieftains  together,  and  after  seven  years  the 
empire  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  soldier  of  fortune  who 
founded  the  famous  dynasty  of  Han.  And  here  let  me 
close  this  part  of  China's  history,  merely  remarking  that 
the  Chinese  nowadays  call  themselves  the  "sons  of  Han" 
and  not  the  "sons  of  Chin." 

Ever  since  the  death  of  The  Only  First  the  Chinese 
scholars  have  despised  his  memory.  This  was  because 
of  his  burning  and  killing  characteristics;  but  in  fact 
this  emperor  although  cruel  and  remorseless  has  left  his 
mark  on  these  people.  We  cannot  describe  the  Celes- 
tials in  any  language,  except  their  own,  without  using 
the  name  of  Chin.  His  name  since  he  lived  has  always 
been  and  probably  always  will  be,  on  the  lips  of  all 
western  nations.  Even  Japan  has  invented  a  designa- 
tion for  China  which  savors  of  the  "Great  First." 
Japanese  postage  stamps  now  used  especially  for  letters 
to  and  from  China,  bear  the  magic  words  Ch  na.1  The 
plain,  wordless  tablet  on  Mount  Tai  may  indicate  to 
the  Shantung  peasant  the  contempt  of  Chin  Shih 
Huang  for  letters;  but  in  burning  the  antiquated  rec- 
ords of  the  past  he  also  burned  his  name  ineradicably  dis- 
tinct on  the  records  of  history,  and  we  cannot  write 
China  without  first  writing  Chin. 

The  prefectures  of  China  still  remain,  not  the  same 
geographically,  but  in  principle.  This  shows  by  long 
experience  that  even  his  enemies  thought  Chin  not  so 

1  Or  Chih  na. 


30  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

far  wrong  in  the  division  of  the  country  for  convenient 
administration. 

For  many,  many  years  China  has  been  pining  for 
another  Chin.  The  want  has  not  been  openly  expressed 
and  probably  not  even  recognized ;  but  the  fact  remains, 
China  has  been  and  is  still  sick  for  more  Shih  Huang  Ti. 
First  the  libraries  and  brains  of  the  literati  are  stuffed 
full  of  useless,  literary  rubbish — old,  mouldy,  unusable 
lumber  and  fit  only  to  make  a  bonfire  of.  The  stuff  is 
so  dry  that  it  would  burn  like  tinder.  Chin  would  be 
just  the  man  to  light  this  heap.  We  would  not  approve 
of  his  burying  the  scholars  alive,  head  and  all,  but 
simply  up  to  their  necks,  when  they  could  be  unearthed 
on  the  solemn  promise  to  learn  something  real  modern 
and  to  teach  that  in  the  mad  race  for  the  beautiful  and 
elegant,  China  has  not  swept  the  field.  On  the  whole 
we  believe  that,  eliminating  his  cruelty  and  bloodthirsti- 
ness,  another  Chin  might  be  the  man  and  brain 
to  start  China  fresh  once  more.  The  contemptuous 
condescension  of  the  Chinese  towards  Lord  Macartney 
in  1792,  the  direct  insult  to  Lord  Amherst  and  the  fail- 
ure of  his  embassy  would  have  been  forestalled  if  Chin 
had  occupied  the  throne  at  the  time.  He  would  have 
tackled  the  opium  question  and  settled  the  whole  matter 
before  the  benevolent  but  giddy  Commissioner  Lin 
destroyed  $10,000,000  worth  of  somebody  else's  opium 
for  which  the  Chinese  afterwards  had  to  pay.  Sir 
Harry  Parkes,  whose  statue  now  adorns  the  Bund  in 
Shanghai  and  whose  personality  has  left  a  mark  on 
British  Far  Eastern  diplomacy,  would  have  discovered 
in  this  sovereign  a  broad-minded  if  bloodthirsty  man 


&G  &mmz^»imf&m      31 

He  who  has  no  diamond  should  not  undertake  to 
cut  glass. 

who  would  have  been  eager  and  willing  to  seize  the 
opportunity  for  making  his  country  strong  and  wise  by 
negotiating  treaties  that  would  have  stopped  the  mouth 
of  cannon ;  and  that  would  have  prevented  the  disastrous 
wars  that  flung  China  to  the  ground  and  humbled  her 
in  the  dust. 

Chin  back  in  the  centuries  was  groping  after  light, 
but  like  most  reformers  he  was  ahead  of  his  time  and 
no  daring  Chinese  has  followed  his  lead.  His  canals 
are  undredged  and  have  been  undredged  for  decades. 
Flood  and  famine  came  down  on  the  millions  of  the 
people  like  a  horrible  night  in  consequence  of  this  cul- 
pable neglect.  His  roads  are  almost  obliterated  and  the 
Chinese  peasant  toils  wearily  through  the  muck  of  the 
unworked  paths  on  his  way  to  the  markets.  China  now 
is  about  as  far  away  from  Chin  Shih  Huang  as  it  is 
possible  to  be.  Astronomically  speaking  the  country  is 
in  aphelion.  Meanwhile  the  West  has  moved  into  the 
East  and  set  up  housekeeping.  New  forces  that  this 
ancient  emperor  saw  afar  off  but  which  were  dead 
blanks  to  the  past  generations,  are  now  operative  in  the 
empire  and  within  the  next  few  years  we  shall  witness 
changes  in  China  which  the  famous  emperor  The  Only 
First,  with  the  "high  pointed  nose,  slit  eyes,  pigeon 
breast,  wolf  voice,  tiger  heart,"  would  have  rejoiced  to 
see  in  his  own  day. 


CHAPTER  V 

From  the  Sea  to  the  Eastern  Y 

Chin's  original  design  evidently  was  to  inclose  his 
massive  empire  in  a  rampart  which  should  assume  the 
shape  of  a  horseshoe  with  the  heel  calks  at  the  ocean 
shore.  He  did  not  plan  to  parallel  the  coast  with  a  wall, 
doubtless  considering  the  seaside  an  ample  protection 
to  a  country  vast  and  densely  populated.  And  the 
water  actually  did  the  protecting  work  of  a  wall  until 
steam  and  covetousness  brought  powerful  fleets  out  of 
the  sunrise  to  threaten  the  wealthy  coastal  cities. 

The  Great  Wall  of  the  present,  following  for  a  thou- 
sand miles  the  ancient  line,  stretches  its  serpentine  and 
civilizing  length  from  the  tempestuous  main  of  the 
Yellow  Sea  to  the  thirsty  sands  of  the  distant  desert, 
and  on  still  farther  to  the  very  verge  of  the  mountains 
of  Tibet  where  the  sun  starts  the  Yellow  River  on  its 
uncertain  and  devious  journey  toward  the  eastern 
ocean. 

It  begins,  where  we  began  our  journey,  on  the  40th 
parallel  of  north  latitude,  which  is  the  line  of  the  high- 
est possible  c  vilization  (Doylestown,  Pennsylvania,  is 
near  that  line) ,  and  does  not  reach  its  western  limit  until 
more  than  one  twentieth  of  the  circumference  of  the 
earth  has  been  occupied.  An  enterprise  so  vast  cer- 
tainly deserves  the  attention  of  an  experienced  traveler 
and  of  an  intelligent  public.     Our  aim  is  not  only  to 

32 


' 


m^xz  m  33 

Men  are  not  offended  by  a  little  extra  courtesy. 

describe  the  Wall  and  its  environment  lyy  sections,  as  we 
saw  them,  but  also  to  answer,  en  route,  such  questions  as 
we  apprehend  any  intelligent  traveler  would  ask  as  he 
proceeded  to  explore  this  wonder  of  the  Far  East. 
Hence  we  have  already  led  the  reader  to  do  exactly  what 
the  traveler  did  before  starting — gain  an  outline  knowl- 
edge of  the  powerful  personality  that  conceived  the 
idea  and  began  the  project  which  remains  after  many 
vicissitudes  a  colossal  monument  to  the  mammoth  mind 
of  The  Only  First. 

We  shall  continue  to  invite  the  reader  to  share  the 
explorer's  observations  of  not  only  the  different  land- 
scapes, the  different  peoples,  and  the  various  aspects 
of  the  wall,  boundary,  rampart,  and  towers,  but  also  of 
the  ancient  and  modern  official  and  legendary  histories. 

After  a  journey  of  one  thousand  It  or  three  hundred 
miles  along  the  Wall,  or  on  the  Wall,  a  temple  of 
hideous  idols  on  the  Horizontal  Ridge  four  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea  gave  an  opportunity  to  sit  and  muse 
on  the  section  explored,  and  to  meditate  how  many 
moons  must  elapse  before  the  journey  should  end  at  the 
western  limit  of  the  Great  Barrier.  A  mere  student  of 
the  map  might  wonder  why  the  Russians  did  not  utilize 
this  ready-made  permanent  way  to  lay  their  steel  rails 
upon,  and  so  rejuvenate  the  Wall  as  the  main  railroad 
to  the  Pacific ;  but  a  little  experience  of  the  eastern  sec- 
tion shows  that  the  levels  were  adapted  for  defense 
across,  not  for  travel  along. 

Xo,  the  Wall  is  not  for  modern  use;  it  is  an  ancient 
fossil — the  largest  fossil  on  the  planet.    But  fossils  are 

8 


34  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

useful  and  truthful.  It  is  the  dividing  line  between 
two  civilizations,  and  between  two  eras.  In  space  it 
cut  off  the  herdsmen  of  the  north  from  the  tillers  of 
the  south,  the  predatory  Abels  of  the  desert  from  the 
peaceful  Cains  of  the  rivers.  This  reminds  us  that  we 
only  know  the  story  from  the  Cain  side,  where  the 
Chinese  pose  as  innocent  and  needing  defense ;  it  would 
be  interesting  to  hear  what  the  Abels  thought  of  it — 
how  the  Mongols  regarded  the  "White  Wall"  as  thej^ 
called  it,  a  barrier  to  cut  them  off  from  the  water  for 
their  flocks,  and  if  they  complained,  a  barrier  whence 
would  issue  an  army  to  cut  them  down,  and  slander 
them  afterward.  The  wolf  first  quarrels  with  the  lamb, 
then  eats  him,  then  tells  the  world  that  the  lamb  was 
attacking  him.  The  Wall  divided  the  wolves  from  the 
lambs,  but  which  was  on  which  side  is  a  question. 

In  time,  the  Wall  divided  the  China  of  mist  from  the 
China  of  history.  Before  it,  we  see  dimly  and  discern 
only  two  or  three  groups  of  feudal  states;  after  it  we 
recognize  plainly  one  civilized  centralized  empire.  And 
yet  a  hoary  old  vender  of  tobacco  pipes,  ignorant  that 
we  could  understand  his  remarks,  muttered  to  his  mate : 
"Why  do  these  people  come  up  here,  where  trees  are 
many  and  people  are  few,  when  they  might  go  to 
Peking  and  see  something?" 

What  now  have  we  seen  along  the  first  stretch? 
Begin  on  the  coast.  The  town  of  Shanghaikwan  at- 
taches itself  to  the  Great  Wall  two  miles  from  the  sea. 
It  boasts  a  thousand  families  on  whom  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  and  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  are  making 
an  impression.    We  find  here  various  samples  of  Chris- 


The   First   Gate  in  the   Great  Wall,    which  is  also  the   South   Gate  of 
Shanhaikwan. 


Photos    bv    Dr.    Geil 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 

"The    Last    Gate"   in   the   Great    Wall,   which   is    also   the   West    Gate   of 
Kiayiikwan,  1250  miles   from  the   "First  G;ite" 


b  n  m  &  #  *  m  35 

Keep  your  broken  arm  inside  your  sleeve. 

tian  civilization.  The  railway  ends  a  division  at  Shan- 
haikwan  and  a  hotel  of  some  foreign  inclinations  offers 
refreshment  to  the  traveling  public,  while  troops  of 
certain  European  powers  summer  on  the  shore  of  the 
Yellow  Sea,  giving  a  belligerent  appearance  to  an 
otherwise  peaceful  place.  There  is  nothing  of  great 
interest  except  the  Great  Wall.  The  railroad  which  is 
paying  a  yearly  dividend  of  sixty  per  cent  runs  through 
the  Wall  at  this  point.  The  imperial  government  gave 
permission  to  build  to  the  Wall  but  not  through  the 
Wall.  It  would  be  considered  a  cruel  sacrilege  to  pierce 
the  Great  Wall  with  an  iron  track. 

But  the  story  of  how  the  road  got  through  the  Wall 
at  Shanhaikwan  is  interesting.  It  came  to  us  in  this 
wise.  Early  one  summer's  day,  after  passing  through 
a  hole  in  the  Wall,  an  agriculturist  hove  in  sight.  We 
politely  saluted  him  with:  "Lend  us  some  light."  It  is 
to  be  understood  that  we  were  not  intending  to  light  a 
pipe,  it  is  simply  using  ordinary  salutation  if  asking 
advice.  The  tawny  rustic  stopped,  gave  a  polite  grunt 
after  the  manner  of  his  clan,  and  illuminated  his  fine 
yellow  face  with  a  liberal  and  benevolent  smile.  "How 
came  the  hole  in  the  Great  Barrier  where  the  iron  cart 
passes  through?"  we  inquired.  He  gave  ready  reply: 
"The  iron  road  did  not  make  the  opening;  it  was  there 
long  ago."  In  this  connection  he  then  related  the  fol- 
lowing love  story,  which  is  the  version  of  the  people: 

Many,  many  years  ago  there  was  a  prince  who  was 
employed  by  the  emperor  in  the  construction  of  the 
Great  Wall.    For  some  reason  or  other  this  prince  had 


36  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

incurred  the  bitter  enmity  of  the  sovereign.  One  day 
the  prince  mysteriously  disappeared  as  many  others  did 
in  those  unhalcyon  days.  The  story  goes  on  to  relate 
that  this  prince  had  married  a  beautiful  woman  who 
loved  him  tenderly  and  devotedly.  Hearing  no  news 
of  him  she  undertook  the  long  journey  to  the  Wall  in 
hope  of  discovering  some  clue  to  her  lost  loved  one. 
After  passing  through  many  perils  and  hardships,  she 
arrived  at  her  destination  only  to  learn  that  her  husband 
had  perished  and  that  his  body  was  entombed  some- 
where in  the  half-completed  structure.  Stricken  with 
grief  she  stood  weeping  on  the  Wall  and  in  her  desola- 
tion had  given  up  all  hope  even  of  discovering  her  hus- 
band's remains  and  of  bringing  them  back  to  the  family 
burying  ground,  where  the  magic  influences  would  waft 
prosperity  to  the  family.  Just  then  a  beautiful  fairy, 
lithe  and  slender,  lightly  descended  before  her  and 
inquired  of  the  disconsolate  widow  the  cause  of  her 
tears.  "Oh,  help  me  to  find  my  darling  husband,"  replied 
the  half-frightened  but  expectant  girl.  "I  am  so  mis- 
erable and  unhappy,  take  pity  on  me,  please."  "Do  as 
I  bid  you,"  replied  the  sprite.  "Cut  your  hand  for 
blood  that  will  flow  from  the  heart,  follow  the  crimson 
drops  as  you  walk  along."  Eagerly  seizing  a  sharp 
stone,  the  delicate  girl  gashed  her  pretty  hand,  and  as 
the  blood  fell,  her  footsteps  followed  until  they  brought 
her  to  the  object  of  her  desire,  lying  in  an  open'rg  that 
had  been  miraculously  made  in  the  Wall.  Through  all 
the  ages  since  then,  the  Wall  in  this  spot  has  never  been 
repaired:  and  when  rude,  remorseless  commercialism 
laid  unholy  hands  on  the  Barrier  of   Chin  to  push 


#I2#tnBIf  37 

The  rewards  of  good  and  evil  are  like  shadow  and 
substance. 

through  the  parallel  bars  of  steel  for  the  iron  horse, 
it  was  at  this  elfin  pass  where  the  beautiful  girl  found 
her  dead  lover,  that  the  Wall  was  crossed  and  the  road 
made. 

When  the  story  was  finished  we  politely  said  to  the 
localite:  "We  have  delayed  your  chariot."  He  was 
walking. 

Our  own  chariot  moved  off  in  the  opposite  direction 
to  reach  the  very  terminal  of  the  Wall.  The  sunrise 
end  is  below  sea-level ;  the  sixth  emperor  of  the  present 
dynasty  ordered  that  three  temples  should  be  built  on 
an  adjoining  site.  Geomancers  were  employed  to  de- 
cide upon  the  exact  spot  that  would  be  favorable,  and 
the  emperor  came  in  person  to  add  his  august  sanc- 
tion to  the  ceremony.  A  pavilion  was  erected  where 
the  last  land  tower  had  stood.  Such  deference  to  the 
lucky  places  is  innate  in  the  Chinese,  and  coalesces 
even  with  modern  improvements.  When  a  drought 
occurred  there,  orders  were  given  to  suspend  sacrifices 
till  the  rain  god  relented;  but  he  invited  the  lightning 
god  to  come  with  him,  and  their  joint  visit  wrecked 
the  telegraph  line  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  j^ards.  But 
in  front  of  the  tablet  stands  to-day  another  sign  of 
change,  a  white  lighthouse. 

After  descending  to  the  sea-level  and  following  on 
top  the  tumbled  granite  blocks  that  all  awry  now  mark 
where  the  massive  masonry  once  extended  into  the 
waters:  after  returning,  ascending  and  studying  the 
solitary  stone  tablet  which  beside  the  white  lighthouse 
illumines  the  mind  as  it  faces  the  Gulf  of  Chihli,  we 


38  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

followed  along  on  top  of  the  Wall,  past  the  modern 
searchlight,  in  a  remarkable  S  curve,  to  the  Pavilion 
of  Literature,  which  is  perched  on  the  terreplaine  of 
the  Wall  exactly  at  the  corner  where  the  Great  Wall 
joins  the  city  wall.  Where  one  would  expect  to  find 
cannon,  rapid-fire  guns,  mortars  and  terrible  dynamite 
throwers,  as  in  the  West,  here  on  this  most  wonderful 
fortification  of  human  history  we  find  instead  a  white 
lighthouse,  a  searchlight,  and  a  temple  to  litera- 
ture. Is  it  possible  that  after  all  the  Chinese  are  right 
and  that  these  are  a  better  protection  for  a  state  than 
death-dealing  machinery  of  the  modern  diabolical  kind? 

There  are  modern  schools  within  sight  of  this  Pa- 
vilion of  Literature;  they  are  crowded,  this  temple  is 
empty!  Modern  full,  ancient  vacant!  The  son  of  a 
rich  man  goes  about  urging  the  people  not  to  oppose 
the  modern  schools.  This  son  of  an  eminent  family 
performs  this  patriotic  work  without  compensation. 
The  spirit  of  Chin  is  abroad  again! 

From  this  Temple  of  Literature  we  could  see  tower- 
ing above  the  city,  and  in  the  center  of  it,  the  drum  and 
bell  tower.  This  is  unique,  for  most  cities  have  a 
tower  for  each.  The  drum  and  bell  are  both  used  at  the 
beginning  of  the  first  watch  only.  In  the  oldest  ages 
the  Chinese  had  a  copper  pot  with  a  small  hole  in  the 
bottom  to  measure  time;  the  water  came  through  drop 
by  drop  and  fell  upon  sounding  metal. 

Beside  this  Tower  of  Literature  we  stand  and  look 
away.  Yonder  on  the  utmost  summit  of  the  mountain 
three  thousand  feet  toward  the  stars,  lay  seemingly 
half  asleep  and  half  awake,  a  huge  monster  born  in 


The    Junction    of    t lit-    Great     Wall    with    the    City    Wall    of    Shanhaikwan. 
The  Pavilion   was  erected  to  the  God   of  Literature 


J*>L 


t  >  .;*  t 


i  he    Greal    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

Curious  Circular  Tower  outside  the  Malan  Pass  in  the  Province  of  Chihli. 

It    is  so  situated    that    the    near-liy   Gate    in    the  Greal    Wall    is  effectually 

guarded 


s«4 A*sai&#  a  ms 

The  only  way  to  prevent  people  knowing  it,  is  not 
to  do  it. 


39 


the  age  of  mythology,  and  just  awakening  out  of  a 
slumber  of  centuries.  But  our  eyes  were  promptly  seized 
by  some  mighty  influence  and  dragged  down  from  the 
light  above  to  the  dark  restless  blue  below,  and  we 
thought  of  the  tragedies  of  the  Great  Wall.  What  are 
the  beacon  lights  of  history? — this  history  we  find  in 
the  Wall?  Is  there  a  handwriting  on  the  Wall?  The 
hand  of  time  is  ever  writing  on  the  Wall,  on  every  wall ; 
most  people  cannot  read  it.  But  is  there  another  hand- 
writing on  the  Wall  ?  We  shall  watch  for  it  as  we  travel 
along  this  Great  Wall ! 

Hear  one  of  the  recent  tragedies.  We  spent  a  night 
in  the  village  of  More-Fertilizer,  and  early  the  next 
morning  pushed  on  the  caravan  toward  Flowering- 
Obedience.  But  ere  the  sunset,  gaunt  smoke-smeared 
ruins  of  a  foreign  compound  spoiled  the  lovely  land- 
scape. Here  had  dwelt  hapless  innocents,  guarded  in 
a  time  of  riot  by  four  Chinese  soldiers;  they  nobly 
refused  to  betray  their  trust  to  a  mob,  were  themselves 
seized,  overpowered,  their  bodies  ripped  open,  and  their 
brave  hearts  torn  out  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice.  Heroes, 
all  hail! 

At  Flowering-Obedience,  an  ancient  Buddhist  temple 
sheltered  us  for  the  night,  redolent  of  confusion  and 
dreadful  death.  The  mind  was  irresistibly  drawn  to 
those  bloody  days  when  two  hundred  Christians  refused 
to  lie  and  live.  As  the  shadows  of  night  engloomed  the 
landscape,  the  pure  light  of  the  stars  shone  down 
through  the  silence  on  the  grassy  graves  of  these 
modern  martyrs.     Not  even  in  death  had  they  been 


40  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

left  at  rest;  the  violent  rage  of  the  rioters  passed  or- 
dinary bounds.  Hoping  to  deepen  the  agony  of  the 
living,  and  to  involve  even  the  dead  in  posthumous 
misery,  they  rifled  the  very  graves  of  all  Christian 
bones,  that  an  endless  unrest  might  beset  those  who 
had  escaped  their  malice  in  this  world. 

Before  sunrise,  accompanied  by  a  body  of  horse,  we 
galloped  away  from  the  gloomy  old  house  of  idols. 
The  keen  frosty  air  quickened  the  sluggish  native 
blood,  and  soon  we  were  on  our  way  north  of  Tsunh- 
wachow.  Here  in  the  quiet  landscape,  silvered  over 
with  the  morning  frost,  stood  a  Buddhist  temple  dedi- 
cated to  the  human  virtue  of  almsgiving.  And  here 
an  eyewitness  told  of  dreadful  doings  he  had  been  help- 
less to  avert. 

A  gentle  girl  had  been  torn  from  her  humble  home, 
with  a  lad  of  some  sixteen  years.  They  were  haled  to 
the  temple  of  almsgiving,  and  were  subjected  to  two 
ordeals.  First  to  abjure  the  foreign  faith,  but  no 
escape  would  be  purchased  by  denying  the  Lord  who 
suffered  for  them.  Guilty  then — of  goodness!  But 
what  sentence?  The  Chinese  dearly  loves  a  gamble, 
and  now  chance  is  invoked  to  whet  the  appetite.  Before 
the  hideous  idol  are  placed  two  bundles  of  incense,  one 
dry,  one  soaked  in  lye.  She  may  choose  at  random,  and 
on  her  choice  hangs  life  or — what?  Should  the  chosen 
bundle  burn  freely,  freedom  is  the  lot,  but  otherwise  a 
speedy  death  is  to  be  hoped  for.  Is  there  no  clatter  of 
hoof,  no  heroic  lover  as  in  the  days  of  yore  to  brave  all 
odds  and  cleave  a  path  through  the  bloody  rabble?  Is 
there  no  heart  touched  with   the  patient  heroism  to 


Don't  bite  off  more  than  you  can  chew. 

harangue  the  mob  and  assuage  their  madness?  Nay, 
she  chooses,  and  most  fittingly,  for  what  Christian 
maiden  would  willingly  select  incense  to  burn  at  an  idol 
shrine!  It  smoulders,  it  dies!  And  so  must  she!  But 
now  the  cold  cruelty  of  the  mob  pauses.  Shall  the 
death-stroke  be  given  at  once,  and  all  the  fiendish  joy 
end  at  a  blow?  Cannot  the  agony  be  long  drawn  out? 
The  lad  divines  the  hellish  torments,  and  who  shall 
blame  if  nature  shrinks?  But  the  maiden  rises  to  nobler 
heights  and  can  find  words  of  cheer  that  nerve  him  to 
endure  all.  Need  we  describe  all?  Insult  after  insult, 
virgin  modesty  outraged,  buffeted,  wounded,  till  the 
frail  form  is  swathed  in  cotton,  soaked  in  oil,  lashed  to 
a  stake,  to  exhale  the  unconquerable  soul  in  a  chariot  of 
fire!  The  days  of  heroism  are  to-day;  the  Church  is 
still  ennobled  by  the  blood  of  her  martyrs. 

Soon  the  Great  Wall  came  into  marvelous  view! 
Lines  of  massive  masonry  interspersed  with  towers  con- 
structed during  the  haughtiest  age  of  the  Chinese  realm 
were  still  winding  along  the  summits  of  mountains  and 
ridges.  Near  the  Mule-Horse  gate  in  the  Great  Wall 
lies  a  quiet  village,  but  we  failed  to  inquire  its  name  in 
our  elation  over  this  wonderful  view  of  the  only  ruin  in 
China. 

The  rising  sun  crowned  the  lofty  towers  with  glory, 
then  burnished  the  battlements  on  the  precipitous  walls 
with  jasper,  and  finally  plunged  the  whole  temple  and 
mud-sided  huts  in  the  pass  itself  into  a  magic  bath  of 
an  indescribable  copper  color!  It  was  a  picture  to  rav- 
ish the  heart  of  a  painter. 


42  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Shanhaikwan  and  Tsunhwa  were  easy  to  find,  but 
the  Y  of  the  Wall  was  a  troublesome  matter.  It  was  a 
long  and  difficult  search.  The  explanation  lies  in  two 
parts.  The  ascents  were  steep  and  hard  to  make;  the 
locals  even  did  not  know  where  the  Wall  actually 
branched  off,  to  Kalgan  on  the  northwest  and  to  Nan- 
kow  on  the  southwest.  Several  times  we  were  led  astray 
by  natives  who  affirmed  they  knew  the  exact  spot  where 
the  Wall  forked.  In  answer  to  their  confidence,  the 
climb  was  made,  only  to  enjoy  the  superb  scenery  and 
to  be  disappointed  in  the  quest  for  the  junction  of  the 
two  Walls  from  the  west  to  the  one  Great  Wall  toward 
the  east.  There  was  also  a  chart  error  in  the  otherwise 
excellent  map,  which  helped  to  lead  us  astray.  The 
error  consisted  in  the  misspelling  of  a  town  name,  and 
also  in  misplacing  the  Y  by  some  miles,  when  con- 
sidered by  angles  with  certain  known  towns. 

Our  caravan  of  mountain  mules  had  rested  over 
night  at  the  pass  of  "The  Lily  Pool,"  Lienhwa  Ch'ih. 
Since  there  was  no  inn  at  the  hamlet,  we  were  taken  in 
by  the  "rich  man"  of  the  place,  with  all  the  hospitality 
of  a  mountaineer.  The  whole  population  was  permitted 
to  come  and  look  us  over.  As  often  as  we  have  been 
subjected  to  that  annoyance,  we  have  never  brought 
ourselves  seriously  to  object  to  such  a  practice.  Our 
arrival  was  to  that  hamlet  what  a  circus,  years  ago,  was 
to  Doylestown,  Pennsylvania.  The  size  of  my  boots 
amazed  the  populace.  At  that  we  were  not  much  sur- 
prised, for  the  size  of  them  had  often  attracted  my  own 
attention ! 

The  day  was  very  young  when  we  began  the  ascent  of 


•-     c 


It  is  not  foolish  to  forgive;  good  will  come  of  it 
bye  and  bye. 

the  mountains  in  further  quest  of  the  lost  Y.  At  one 
thousand  feet  above  the  Lily  Pool,  which,  itself,  was  far 
above  the  sea-level,  the  scene  enraptured  all  except  the 
third  muleteer;  continuing  the  ascent,  we  came  upon 
large  sections  of  the  Great  Wall  in  almost  perfect  re- 
pair and  in  truly  classic  ensemble,  which  would  rival 
that  of  ancient  Greece.  Not  only  the  Great  Wall  but 
a  solid  tower,  standing  on  the  very  verge  of  a  steep  cliff, 
and  several  hundred  feet  distant  from  the  wall,  and  out- 
side, attracted  our  attention.  The  "rich  man"  acting  as 
guide  advanced  two  explanations.  First :  That  the  solid 
solitary  tower  had  been  used  by  soldiers  for  their  horses. 
The  tower  being  solid,  this  theory  was  explosive.  The 
other  explanation  was  the  true  one.  Due  south  of  this 
point  lay  the  "Thirteen  Tombs"  or  the  Imperial  Ming 
Reservation.  The  geomancers  had  reckoned  it  impera- 
tive to  build  such  a  tower  in  this  high  place  in  order  to 
suck  in  good  influences  and  concentrate  the  luck  on  the 
resting  place  of  the  Mings.  How  much  of  the  "Fa- 
vorable" was  converged  by  the  tower  on  the  Place  of 
Tombs  we  could  not  learn. 

The  sunrise  end  of  the  Great  Wall  is  below  the  level 
of  the  sea.  The  Wall  never  again  descends  to  the  tide 
line.  Soon  after  leaving  the  wet  shore,  it  follows  a 
course  upward  and  northward,  bearing  off  to  the  west. 
During  the  first  one  thousand  //  it  is  never  on  a  level. 
Irregular  in  direction  and  altitude,  it  has  been  regular 
only  in  purpose.  Built  for  peace  and  repaired  for  war, 
the  Great  Barrier  has  never  been  disappointing.  Even 
the  scenery  is   satisfactory.     For  one  whole  day  we 


44  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

passed  through  a  chain  of  canyons  of  marvelous  beauty 
often  blending  into  the  sublime.  Eighty  miles  north  of 
the  over-estimated  city  of  Peking,  capital  of  the  vastest 
empire  of  mortals,  are  location,  altitude,  and  grandeur 
fit  for  the  Olympian  gods!  From  the  tide  to  a  height 
of  nearly  a  mile  this  stupendous  structure  of  sublimity 
keeps  steadily  on  its  westward  course.  After  beholding 
China's  wonder  of  the  world,  we  would  hesitate  to  cross 
the  street  to  see  Egypt's  pyramids,  for  wonder  pur- 
poses ! 

But  the  Great  Barrier  passes  through  regions  pleas- 
ing to  the  scientist.  The  botanist  can  stock  his  her- 
barium as  he  travels  from  the  sea  to  the  Y  through 
seven  belts  of  flowers,  in  addition  to  shrubs,  plants  and 
trees.  The  ornithologist  is  in  almost  equal  clover  with 
six  belts  of  birds,  while  the  student  of  rocks  and 
stones  has  awaiting  him  binary  granites,  sandstones  and 
conglomerates  of  variety  and  design  to  exhilarate  a 
Hugh  Miller.  The  anthropologist  will  find  abundant 
material  among  the  "imperial  tombs"  where  the  empress 
dowager  will  be  buried.  The  imperial  reserve  for  burial 
purposes  of  the  reigning  family  known  as  the  Eastern 
Tombs  is  located  against  the  Great  Wall.  Indeed,  the 
Great  Wall  furnishes  the  inclosure  with  its  protection 
on  one  side.  A  charming  spot  the  geomancers  marked 
out  as  "lucky"  for  the  interment1  of  the  rulers  of  the 
present  dynasty.  In  the  inclosure  grow  funereal  pines, 
and  death  by  strangulation  is  the  penalty  to  any  mortal 
who  dares  to  cut  or  mar  the  trees.     Here  her  late 

1  A  spot  which  is  considered  lucky  for  the  burial  of  a  king  would  have 
also  been  lucky  for  his  birth. 


The    Great     Wall    of    China  Photo   by   Harrison    Saekett    Elliot 

View  of  the  Great  Wall  north  of  Peking',  where  the  tourists  go  to  see  the 
most  wonderful  wonder  in  the  world.  Notice  width,  excellent  work- 
manship, and   different  style  of  brick  work  arising  from  the  terreplain 


*  #  s  m  a  *  m  « 

A  little  impatience  spoils  great  plans. 

majesty,  the  empress  dowager,  who  fell  dead  in  the 
presence  of  her  eunuchs  on  the  twenty-second  of  this 
Chinese  moon,  will  be  buried  in  a  gorgeous  grave  palace. 
Then  for  the  biologist  is  ready  a  list  of  a  score  or  more 
of  wild  creatures  that  run  about,  several  awaiting  the 
call  of  a  good  gun.  For  mere  unscientific  people  who 
love  beauty  and  do  not  want  exact  knowledge  let  us  just 
mention  the  peonies,  roses,  clematis,  snow-in-the-moun- 
tains,  white  dandelions,  with  an  armful  of  others  in 
great  profusion,  growing  amidst  environments  fit  for 
the  feet  of  Cherubim!  Nature  has  done  no  better 
work  anywhere  than  along  the  Great  Wall,  nor  is 
there  any  work  of  man  superior  to  this  to  be  seen 
amidst  forest-clothed  mountain,  streams,  and  ravines. 

Turning  to  human  nature,  much  is  to  be  desired. 
The  people  dwelling  near  the  Great  Wall  are  mostly 
poor.  Our  one  thousand  li  of  travel  was  through  a 
thousand  li  of  poverty;  a  thousand  li  of  ignorance,  for 
the  natives  knew  as  little  of  the  history  and  condition 
of  the  only  wonder  of  the  Far  East  as  an  American 
University  graduate!  One  thousand  li  of  goiter!  This 
disease  we  have  seen  in  many  mountain  lands  among 
different  peoples,  but  never  with  the  same  proportion 
as  among  the  people  of  the  Great  Wall. 

The  effort  necessary  to  provide  the  material  (stone, 
brick  and  mortar),  carry  it  and  lay  it,  only  impresses 
the  traveler  when  he  is  attempting  to  scale  the  almost 
inaccessible  portions  of  the  Wall.  And  such  portions 
occupy  no  small  part  of  the  whole.  It  was  impreg- 
nable to  the   enemv  because  inaccessible.     Often  we 


46  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

were  hauled  up  by  ropes,  and  many  of  the  ascents  were 
accomplished  by  holding  on  to  the  mule's  tail.  Yet  it 
averages  twenty  feet  in  height  and  is  wide  enough  for 
three  or  six  mules  to  haul  up  three  or  six  weary  travel- 
ers abreast. 

As  a  sample  of  the  mountain  villages  stowed  away  in 
the  fastnesses  of  these  heights  along  the  Great  Barrier 
may  be  mentioned  "Thistle  Ravine."  Far  from  the 
"Barbarian  Sea,"  as  Euripides  terms  the  "deep  blue," 
there  are  two  colors,  the  green  of  the  mountains  and  the 
blue  of  the  sky.  These  are,  however,  in  almost  infinite 
shades,  for  this  bulge  of  a  lofty  valley  is  entirely  sur- 
rounded by  mountain  peaks  of  strange  and  picturesque 
form.  We  asked  a  birth  native  how  many  families 
dwelt  here,  and  he  said:  "Five  or  six."  When  we  urged 
on  him  the  ridiculousness  of  his  not  knowing  the  exact 
number  in  so  small  a  place,  and  it  the  village  of  his  birth 
from  which  he  had  never  wandered,  he  replied:  "Six"; 
laconic  and  correct. 

As  there  are  not  ten  acres  of  flat  land,  every  inch  is 
under  cultivation,  and  work  extends  well  up  the  steep 
slopes  where  the  tiller  of  the  soil  must  brace  himself 
when  planting,  to  prevent  sliding  down.  Along  the 
Wall  at  regular  intervals  are  the  remains  of  garrison 
towns,  but  Thistle  Ravine,  three  thousand  five  hundred 
feet  above  the  ocean  currents,  was  not  one  of  these. 

At  twilight  we  arrived,  after  a  hard  climb,  at  the  only 
open  end  of  the  only  street.  There  being  no  inn  to 
shelter  us,  the  kindly  mountaineers  placed  a  new  house 
at  the  disposal  of  the  expedition.  This  was  called  "The 
House  of  the  Lucky  Star."    A  red  cloth  with  a  bit  of 


There  is  no  fence  that  does  not  let  the  wind  through 

charcoal  dangled  at  the  door  to  prevent  evil  spirits 
bothering  us.  When  "The  House  of  the  Lucky  Star" 
is  finished  a  basket  of  cakes  will  be  upset  and  a  general 
scramble  ensue,  to  insure  and  augment  the  good  luck. 
We  were  amused  to  find  on  the  main  timber  of  this  very 
modest  mansion  a  happy  saying:  "This  is  a  Great 
Work."  We  were,  they  said,  the  first  foreigners  who 
ever  burst  into  that  quiet  valley.  Our  glasses  interested 
them  and  they  had  never  heard  of  false  teeth.  Vaccina- 
tion was  unknown;  an  old  man  seeing  our  automatic 
Cordite  rifles  asked  if  they  would  shoot  rabbits.  We 
replied  in  the  affirmative  and  then  told  him  the  best  way 
to  catch  a  rabbit  was  to  put  salt  on  its  tail.  Behold  at 
last  we  had  found  a  place  where  the  old  joke  was  new! 
A  whole  family  had  smallpox  in  full  blast.  These  are 
handworking  people,  and  on  the  Great  Wall  near 
by  are  slabs  with  inscriptions  naming  the  head  brick- 
men,  blacksmiths  and  stone  masons  who  directed  the 
repairs  on  the  Great  Barrier  centuries  ago. 

These  highlanders  are  religious  people.  Often  along 
the  Wall  have  we  seen  towers  and  temples  erected  to  the 
tutelary  gods  of  the  Northern  Boundary,  but  here  we 
found  a  vacant  shrine.  No  incense  diffuses  fragrance 
in  the  godless,  mud-made  cairn  of  Chihli  K'ow.  Near 
this  idol-less,  picture-less  worship  house,  we  came  upon 
a  native  with  an  ugly  gash  upon  his  head.  We  asked 
him:  "How  came  the  gash?"  He  immediately  replied: 
"That  is  an  humiliating  question."  He  had  killed  a 
badger  and  then  entered  into  a  quarrel  with  another 
hunter,  with  the  result  that  the  other  struck  first  and 


48  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

foully.  There  is  one  bird  here,  found  nesting  in  the 
pear  trees,  which  the  mountaineers  do  not  kill.  One  was 
pointed  out  by  an  old  man.  He  said  that  years  ago  an 
emperor,  whose  early  morning  slumbers  had  been  dis- 
turbed by  the  noise  of  this  bird  at  his  palace  window, 
issued  a  decree,  forbidding  all  feathered  creatures  of 
this  description  to  screech  within  forty  li  of  Peking.  It 
is  generally  reported  that  these  birds  heard  of  the  decree 
and  obeyed  the  "Ruler  of  all  under  Heaven"  until  this 
day !  The  Great  Wall  passes  through  a  region  which  is 
now  sparsely  settled,  but  which  was  probably  densely 
populated  in  ancient  days.  Indeed  the  Great  Wall 
suggests  that  centuries  ago  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
China  supported  a  larger  population  than  at  the  present. 

Here  at  Thistle  Ravine  is  one  of  the  most  entrancing 
views  to  be  had  in  any  land,  the  wonderful  festooning 
of  the  Wall  exactly  on  the  sky  line  from  mountain  peak 
to  mountain  peak,  following  an  almost  inaccessible 
ridge,  seemingly  hung  there  by  the  Maker  of  the  moun- 
tains. How  it  was  constructed  is  a  mystery.  But  there 
it  is,  towers  and  wall,  and  it  has  been  there  for  cen- 
turies and  never  idle  for  a  moment,  defying  the  frost 
and  the  rain,  the  snow  and  the  wind,  or  protecting  the 
mountaineers  from  a  strong  enemy,  who  might  over- 
whelm their  slender  force  of  warriors,  and  overrun  their 
meager  farms;  in  more  ancient  time,  helping  the 
imperial  legions  to  prevent  the  capital  of  the  empire 
from  falling  into  robber  hands.  Last  night  we  saw  this 
marvelous  sight  by  moonlight.  It  has  no  equal  except 
a  moonlight  night  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos. 

This  ponderous  mass  of  masonry  upon  which  we  are 


A  slave  is  the  worst  of  masters. 

now  looking  lies  like  some  mythical  monster,  prone 
upon  the  shadowy  mountain  and  the  dreary  plain,  as  if 
prostrated  by  the  blow  of  a  proportionate  foe.  It  does 
not  suggest  impious  pride  or  sinewy  force,  but  enor- 
mous might.  It  was  evidently  inspired  less  by  rage 
than  by  the  desire  to  prevent  rage  in  an  age  of  rage. 
The  fierce  Mongols  between  this  heavy  line  and  the 
frozen  north,  elate  with  unerring  bow  would   gladly 


Aff'  )''"""•"■    ,*'''?<>:■*'■  ..•  tddgM  v-  " ■'■*•'. 

Mongols  hunting  in  the  desert  north  of  the  Great  Wall. 

precipitate  themselves  on  the  plodding  peasants  of  the 
southland.  It  seems  to  us  that  the  Wall  was  designed  to 
preserve  peace,  and  as  such,  still  stands  the  most  pro- 
nounced effort  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  Which 
will  be  the  more  potent  promoter  of  peace,  the  temple 
at  the  Hague,  or  the  Wall  of  Chin?  The  builder  even 
two  thousand  years  ago  was  ahead  of  the  senseless  mil- 
itarism of  Europe.  Warful  nations  have  disappeared 
but  the  peaceful  Chinese  continue  through  millenniums. 
The  warlike  spirit  boomerangs  and  destroys  its  author 
— peace  pays ! 

4 


50  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

It  was  then  and  is  now  madness  to  trust  individuals 
or  nations  or  the  chance  of  blind  impious  luck!  To 
avoid  by  peaceful  means  a  dreadful  fate  to  friend  or 
foe,  to  make  harmless  the  noisy  and  heedless  passions  of 
wild  and  wicked  men,  to  impede  rage,  prevent  horror, 
perfume  wrath  with  hesitation,  is  fit  achievement  for 
gods  and  women!  These  chaste  and  admirable  virtues 
are  here  found  writ  in  stone,  mostly  in  granite  stone! 

A  part  then  of  this  Great  Wall  is  immortal.  It  can 
now  boast  a  lengthy  youth  and  an  old  age  just  begun. 
It  has  prevented  many  a  "dreadful  harvest  of  the 
sword,"  slaughter  cumbrous  and  fresh,  it  has  prevented 
many  a  shameful  tribute  to  the  unfathomed  hatred  of 
barbarian  hordes!  Great  Wall,  all  hail!  It  remains 
true  that  it  is  better  to  lay  stones  than  to  throw  them. 
A  wall  to  protect  the  living  is  better  than  a  ditch  to 
cover  the  dead.  Let  immortal  honors  cluster  and  be- 
stow themselves  to  praise  the  virtue  that  conceived  and 
constructed  the  greatest  wall  in  the  world  which  has 
for  ages  stood  for  peace  and  which  has  for  ages  diffused 
delay.    Great  Wall,  all  hail! 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Ancient  Architectural  Wave 

Marvelous  is  this  stupendous  work  of  man.  To  read 
of  it  trailing  its  bulk  along  the  edge  of  an  empire  is  to 
court  incredulity:  to  behold  it  climbing  the  sides  of 
ravines,  cresting  the  watersheds  of  ranges,  striding 
across  ravines,  is  to  conceive  a  mighty  admiration  for 
its  architect;  to  traverse  it  day  after  day  for  months  is 
to  grasp  at  the  strenuous  activity  of  the  builders;  to 
hear  that  every  third  able-bodied  man  of  the  empire  was 
pressed  into  service  to  pile  the  massy  stones,  is  to  gain 
some  idea  of  the  limitless  power  of  its  designer;  to 
listen  to  the  legends  of  the  remorseless  speed  of  its 
construction,  so  that  tardy  workmen  were  immured  in 
the  sections  they  lingered  over,  is  to  realize  the  hatred 
inspired  and  handed  on  for  generations.  What  danger 
threatened,  or  was  it  but  the  spirit  of  that  age  like  ours 
millenniums  later? 

Did  this  vast  construction  rise  phoenix-like  from  the 
relics  of  a  former  barrier?  or  did  it  spring  like  Minerva 
full-orbed  from  the  brain  of  one  man?  Was  it  the 
magnifying  of  similar  indigenous  monuments,  a  mere 
developing  of  Chinese  ideas?  or  was  it  inspired  by 
foreign  ideals,  by  tales  of  barbarian  doings  in  the  west- 
ern world,  by  a  determination  to  show  that  when  the 
Son  of  Heaven  condescended  to  look  upon  the  works 
of  the  foreign  devils,  he  could  by  one  exertion  of  his 

51 


52  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

power  utterly  outshine  all  their  puny  efforts?  Was 
this  a  contemptuous  defiance  of  the  Seven  Wonders  of 
the  Holy  Greeks,  who  hy  the  year  276  had  just  heard 
of  "Thina,"  as  the  writings  of  Eratosthenes  show? 

Scarcely  one  hundred  years  prior  to  the  erection  of 
the  Great  Wall  the  victorious  phalanx  of  Alexander, 
the  Flying  Leopard,  whom  Daniel  had  foreseen  in  his 
vision,  advancing  eastward,  ground  under  his  heavy 
heel  the  beautiful  "strong  city  Tyre,"  scattered  the 
power  of  Persia  and  finally  advanced  into  India  in 
search  of  costlier  conquests.  He  wisely  avoided  China! 
His  ten  years  of  military  activity  were  not  merely  bril- 
liant maneuvers  and  series  of  bloody  victories.  The 
motives  of  Alexander-the-Great-Butcher  must  not  be 
sought  in  martial  movements.  His  conquests  were  for. 
the  better  purpose,  for  the  spreading  of  Hellenisi 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

This  Grecianizing  Leaven  aimed  at  physical  and  intel- 
lectual culture;  beauty  and  liberty — which  is  why  the 
Greeks  planted  among  the  conquered  peoples  cities — 
centers  of  this  influence.  Alexander  himself  built  no 
less  than  seventy  cities.  Indeed,  he  stretched  a  chain 
of  cities  from  Media  to  Sparta,  to  disseminate  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Greeks.  And  under  the  quiet,  happy  rule 
of  the  Ptolemies  of  mummy  fame,  the  Grecian  towns 
near  and  within  Egyptian  borders  fostered  the  new 
ideas  and  many  cities  sprang  up  between  the  two 
mother  metropolises,  Alexandria  and  Antioch. 

Like  Palestine,  Rome,  that  world-conquering  empire 
which  "made  the  Mediterranean  a  Roman  lake,"  came 
under  the  influence  of  Grecian  culture.     But  Grecian 


r 


It  is  easy  to  see  the  king  of  Hades,  but  not  one  of 
his  imps. 

manners  and  customs  brought  with  them  luxury  and 
nocturnal  festivities  which,  coupled  with  unwonted  wan- 
tonness, sapped  the  life  of  the  nation,  and  the  fatal  fall 
of  the  mighty  but  immoral  mistress  of  the  world  was 
hastened.  At  the  time  of  the  building  of  the  Great 
Wall  commercialism  and  materialism  had  so  com- 
pletely undermined  the  morals  of  Rome  that  civil  mar- 
riages and  divorces  were  no  longer  uncommon.  Cato 
the  Elder,  foreseeing  the  eventual  ruin,  gave  this  advice 
to  his  son:  "The  Greek  race  is  very  vicious,  and  believe 
this  as  the  voice  of  an  oracle,  with  its  literature  will  spoil 
everything  at  Rome!"  And  he  might  have  said  every- 
where else  except  in  the  Far  East. 

The  temporary  glory  of  Hellenism  shone  most  re- 
splendently  from  Alexandria  in  Egypt,  which  was 
founded  332  B.C.  by  Alexander  near  the  delta  of  the 
Nile,  out  of  the  village  Rhakotis.  Its  growth  was 
marvelous  and  it  soon  ranked  as  the  model  metropolis 
with  regular  streets,  magnificent  sky-scrapers  (four 
stories  high),  palaces  and  parks,  a  city  of  500,000 
habitants.  Here  was  the  emporium  of  the  western 
world,  where  the  celebrated  fine  linen,  so  closely  woven 
that  its  texture  had  one  hundred  and  fifty  threads  to 
the  inch,  made  by  a  secret  process  similar  to  that  for 
which  Sardis  was  famous,  had  an  immense  foreign  sale. 

But  Alexandria  gloried  most  in  her  scholarship.  She 
was  the  intellectual  center.  The  Museum — the  shrine 
where  the  Muses  are  to  be  worshiped — sheltered  the 
various  philosophic  schools.  There  Aristarchus  edited 
critical  and  grammatical  works,  and  left  commentaries 


54  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

which  are  the  basis  of  our  investigations.  Here  also 
was  the  largest  library  on  earth,  containing  five  hundred 
thousand  volumes.  Most  of  these  were  originals  which 
had  been  seized  and  for  which  copies  had  been  given  in 
return.  The  half -million  volumes  accumulated  in  this 
perfectly  modern  fashion  were  stored  in  the  Temple  of 
Serapis,  the  Serapeion. 

The  city  boasted  of  splendidly  equipped  observa- 
tories, zoological  and  botanical  gardens.  Philadelphus 
in  250  B.C.  raised  a  temple  here  in  honor  of  his  father 
and  placed  therein  statues  of  gold  and  ivory  to  be  wor- 
shiped like  gods.  The  feast  which  he  gave  at  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne  cost  over  $500,000,  the  most  splendid 
festival  ever  seen,  one  in  which  the  proud  city  of 
Alexandria  enjoyed  the  most  pompous  pageants  and 
the  greatest  games,  "for  the  spoils  of  whole  provinces 
were  sacrificed  to  the  curiosity  of  a  single  day  to 
raise  the  frivolous  admiration  of  a  stupid  populace." 
Among  the  men  of  the  world,  few  have  possessed  the 
wealth  ascribed  to  King  Philadelphus,  estimated  at 
$750,000,000. 

During  his  reign  he  caused  to  be  constructed  among 
other  projects  the  tomb  to  his  sister  Arsenoe.  In  this 
Dionachores,  his  architect,  proposed  to  build  a  room  of 
loadstone  and  place  an  iron  statue  of  her,  to  be  sus- 
pended without  support  in  the  air  between  roof  and 
floor.1  This  plan,  however,  was  not  executed.  The 
ancients  kindly  left  this  for  moderns. 

"I  would  entreat  thy  company, 
To  see  the  wonders  of  the  world." 
1  Did  not  the  Moslem  tradition  of  Mohammed's  coffin  originate  here? 


The    Great    Wall    of   China  Ph.. to    by   Dr.    Geil 

Top    of   section    of    .Mountain    Wall    scaled    with    mortar    and    stone.      Mule- 
Horse  Pass 


m  a  m  #  m  55 

The  grass  does  not  move  when  there  is  no  wind. 

When  the  Great  Wall  of  Chin  was  begun  the  narrow 
Hellenic  world  was  discussing  and  admiring  seven 
stupendous  structures,  the  Seven  Wonders  of  antiquity. 
Among  these  the  greatest  are  the  Walls  and  Hanging 
Gardens  of  "the  Gate  of  God,"  Babylon.  The  walls  of 
this  ancient  capital,  said  old  Herodotus,  were  fifteen 
miles  on  the  side,  eighty-seven  feet  wide,  and  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  perpendicular,  and  built  in  fifteen 
daj^s.  On  each  side  were  great  gates  of  solid  bronze 
which  gave  easy  entrance  to  the  inclosure.  Towers, 
picturesque  and  powerful,  rose  at  regular  intervals  ten 
feet  above  the  parapet.  The  arrangement  of  the 
streets,  each  fifteen  miles  long,  was  so  uniform  that 
every  well-compacted  gate  was  joined  directly  to  one 
lying  opposite:  the  city  having  magnificent  highways 
in  each  direction.1 

The  Hanging  Gardens  built  either  by  or  for  a  woman 
stood  within  a  triple  mass  of  masonry  in  the  ill-omened 
palace  and  formed  a  perfect  square  four  hundred  feet 
to  the  side.  Terraces,  one  above  the  other,  rose  on  vast 
arches,  which  were  raised  on  other  arches.  A  stair  of 
stone  gave  ample  access  to  these  elevations,  while  the 

1  "Already  we  know  more  of  the  glories  of  Babylon  than  Herodotus  has 
been  able  to  tell  us,  and  a  correct  idea  of  the  more  important  part  of  the 
city  can  even  now  be  obtained.  From  the  plans  drawn  up,  we  must  dis- 
miss from  our  minds  the  picture  of  a  four-square  city  with  all  the  streets 
at  right  angles  like  those  of  the  great  cities  of  America,  and  gates  to  the 
number  of  a  hundred  giving  access  to  the  principal  thoroughfares.  Baby- 
lon was  no  larger,  Delitzsch  says,  than  Dresden  or  Munich,  and  the  walls 
as  traced  by  the  explorers,  though  roughly  rectangular,  inclosed  a  very 
irregularly-shaped  tract."  T.  G.  Pinches  (Journal  R.  A.  S.)  Which  is 
correct,  Herodotus  or  Pinches? 


56  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

whole  amazing  garden  was  encircled  by  a  wall  seventy- 
two  feet  thick. 

Ponderous  stones  sixteen  by  four  feet  were  laid  over 
these  strong  and  graceful  arches,  and  upon  them  was 
spread  a  thick  layer  of  reeds  and  bitumen;  this  again 
was  covered  with  two  rows  of  bricks  cemented  together 
by  mortar  made  with  slime  from  the  Dead  Sea.  Lastly 
a  thick  covering  of  lead  prevented  the  percolation  of 
moisture  from  the  mold  that  had  been  spread  upon  it. 
These  unequaled  gardens  were  adorned  with  gorgeous 
flowers,  fragrant  shrubs,  and  trees  large  and  diverse. 
A  pump  placed  in  the  upper  terrace  formed  the  water 
works. 

Wonder  No.  2}  Proud  Kufu  built  the  Great  Pyra- 
mid at  Gizeh  as  his  tomb.  Shifting  every  three  months, 
a  hundred  thousand  men  were  constantly  employed  for 
ten  years  in  its  construction,  and  a  million  dollars'  worth 
of  onions  and  other  vegetables  were  consumed  by  these 
same  workmen. 

Its  original  height  was  over  four  hundred  and  eighty 
feet,  the  length  of  its  base  seven  hundred  and  sixty-four 
feet.  Pliny  considered  these  pyramids  as  "Regum 
pecuniae  otiosa  ac  stulta  ostentatio,"  a  foolish  and  idle 
display  of  the  wealth  of  kings.  This  is  the  only  "won- 
der" remaining  to  this  day. 

Wonder  No.  J.  Third  among  the  wonders  of  the 
ancient  world  was  the  Temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus, 
dated  originally  772  B.C.  Built  in  the  name  and  at  the 
expense  of  Asia  Minor,  its  construction,  according  to 

1  In  chronological  order  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Kufu  came  long  before 
the  glory  of  "The  Gate  of  God." 


-mmmmmmw         57 

The  first  time  it  is  a  favour,  the  second  a  rule. 

Pliny,  took  over  two  centuries.  "Of  this  temple  great 
speech  was  made  throughout  the  world." 

It  is  of  gigantic  size,  four  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet  in  length,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in 
width;  more  than  six  score  costly  columns  sixty  feet 
high,  each  dedicated  by  a  king,  supported  the  roof  of 
this  marvelous  building.  Master  artists  vied  with  each 
other  to  excel  in  adorning  the  edifice.  On  the  night 
Alexander  was  born,  one  Herostratus  set  it  on  fire  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  make  himself  known  to  pos- 
terity. It  was  therefore  a  rebuilt  temple  that  attracted 
sightseers  in  the  days  of  Chin. 

Wonder  No.  4.  Next  in  time  is  the  statue  of  Jupiter 
Olympus ;  the  work  of  Phidias,  who  carved  it  at  Elis  in 
435  B.C.  It  is  novel  in  this  that  it  is  the  work  of  revenge. 
Forced  to  withdraw  from  Athens  to  escape  the  intrigues 
of  his  rivals,  he  began  making  a  statue  of  Jupiter  which 
should  eclipse  the  statue  of  Minerva  which  he  had 
carved  for  the  Athenians.  This  he  achieved.  It  was 
carved  in  gold  and  ivory,  sixty  feet  high  and  wrought 
so  well  that  it  was  believed  nothing  could  ever  surpass 
it.  At  the  base  were  graved  these  words,  a  seal  of 
approbation  from  the  god,  "Phidias  the  Athenian  made 
me." 

Wonder  No.  5.  The  fifth  wonder  of  the  world  was 
the  work  of  a  woman,  the  beautiful  tomb  of  Mausolus, 
known  as  the  Mausoleum.  His  widowed  wife  caused 
it  to  be  erected  in  354  at  Halicarnassus  in  Caria.  The 
four  most  famous  sculptors  of  the  time  adorned  the 
beautiful  structure,  each  embellishing  a  side.     It  was 


58  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

oblong  in  shape,  surrounded  by  six  and  thirty  Ionic 
columns,  crowned  by  a  pyramid  diminishing  by  twenty- 
four  steps  to  the  summit.  A  colossal  marble  quadriga 
crowned  the  top.  The  total  height  was  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet.  The  marble  lions,  the  magnificent 
frieze,  its  gorgeous  color  effect  caused  the  admiration 
of  all  beholders.  And  this  was  all.  For  Mrs.  Mausolus 
placed  her  husband's  sacred  ashes  in  costly  wine  and 
drank  the  hideous  mixture,  desiring  that  her  husband's 
body  should  be  buried  in  her  own  body. 

Wonder  No.  6.  The  watch-tower  lighthouse  at 
Pharos,  completed  in  283  B.C.  in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus.  It  stood  on  the  island  of  Pharos,  named 
after  a  pilot  buried  there.  Its  marble  tower  rose  to  a 
height  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  on  its  top  a 
fire  was  kept  burning  which  was  visible  at  a  distance  of 
one  hundred  miles.  This  "wonder"  endured  for  fifteen 
hundred  years.  Sostratus,  commissioned  to  build  it  for 
the  price  of  $800,000,  carved  his  own  name  into  the 
great  pillar,  neglecting  to  do  honor  to  the  king  whose 
munificence  was  responsible  for  the  erection  of  the 
lighthouse.  Ordered  to  correct  this  neglect,  he  filled 
the  hollow  with  mortar  and  carved  therein:  "King 
Ptolemy  to  the  gods,  the  saviors,  for  the  benefit  of 
sailors."  The  mortar  finally  crumbled  away  and  re- 
vealed the  original  inscription,  showing  the  modern 
spirit  of  the  architect  who  had  carved: 

"Sostratus  the  Cnidian,  son  of  Dexiphanes,  to  the 
gods,  the  saviors,  for  the  benefit  of  sailors." 

Wonder  No.  7.  Closer  to  the  time  of  the  Great  Wall 
came  the  Colossus  at  Rhodes,  finished  280  B.C.  after 


a     £> 


Better    give  a  mouthful    to    the    hungry    than    a 
bushelful  to  the  well-fed. 

twelve  years  of  building.  Chares  of  Lindus  wrought 
this  stupendous  brass  statue, — so  tall  that  ships  in  full 
sail  might  have  passed  between  its  legs,  but  they  didn't. 
It  was  one  hundred  and  five  feet  high  and  occupied  a 
place  in  the  harbor.  The  thumb  could  hardly  be 
clasped  with  both  arms.  A  winding  staircase  led  to  the 
top  of  this  Tor  de  Speechi  whence  by  aid  of  glasses 
hung  around  the  neck  of  the  statue  a  view  could  be  had 
off  the  shores  of  Syria.     It  cost  $400,000. 

While  the  Great  Wall  was  building  an  earthquake 
shook  Greece  and  destroyed  this  gigantic  figure.  It 
was  never  built  up  again.  The  Seven  Wonders,  to  quote 
a  medieval,  were  big  "prosperous  edifices,  of  exagger- 
ated hugeness,  dazzling  and  ruinous  luxury." 

Four  Great  Roads.  While  Grecian  architecture 
erected  monuments  of  grace  and  beauty,  Rome  worked 
persistently  along  more  useful  lines;  she  began  to  build 
highways.  The  queen  of  roads,  the  Via  Appia,  most 
important  and  celebrated  as  a  highway,  was  built  in 
312  B.C.  under  Appius  Claudius  Carcus  and  paid  for 
with  money  collected  as  fines  from  rich  estate  holders. 
It  put  Rome  into  connection  with  such  important  towns 
as  Capua  and  Brindisium,  paved  with  blocks  of  lava 
for  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles.  A  network  of 
roads  sprang  into  existence  branching  off  from  this 
great  highway,  and  enlacing  Italy. 

Then  came  the  Via  Latina,  also  running  south.  By 
it  Rome  had  direct  communication  with  Beneventum, 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles  distant.  Another  ancient 
road,  if  not  the  oldest,  was  the  Via  Solaria,  running 


60  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

from  the  Colline  Gate  to  Ancona  on  the  coast  of  the 
Adriatic.  Branch  roads  from  this  later  crossed  the 
Apennines  to  Picenum. 

In  220  B.C.,  while  Chin  was  considering  the  project  of 
building  the  Great  Wall,  Consul  Flaminius  fortified 
Italy  by  adding  the  Via  Flaminia  to  the  many  military 
roads.  The  terminal  points  of  it  are  Rome  and  Ari- 
minum  to  the  northeast,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  distant. 

Rome  after  the  first  Punic  War  saw  her  wealth  in- 
creasing and  with  that  her  power.  With  the  luxurious 
life  also  came  the  desire  for  larger  architectural  develop- 
ment. Durney  suggests  that  Rome's  art  until  then  had 
been  sacerdotal,  i.e.,  it  served  merely  for  ornamenting 
the  temples.  But  now  moneys  were  appropriated  to 
works  of  public  utility ;  an  aqueduct  was  constructed  by 
Carius,  and  after  275  a  new  mint  was  erected  to  coin 
gold  instead  of  silver  as  before;  new  temples  were 
reared  more  from  a  feeling  of  vanity  in  perpetuating 
the  glory  of  a  family  than  from  a  sense  of  piety  and 
devotion. 

For  a  time  this  revival  of  art  received  a  check  through 
the  coming  of  young  Hannibal  into  Italy  and  his  march 
toward  Rome.  Having  sworn  eternal  hatred  to  Rome 
this  Carthaginian  leader  of  great  genius  crossed  the 
Alps  at  precisely  the  time  when  a  Chinese  emperor,  a 
greater  genius,  Chin  Chihhuang  Ti,  is  occupied  with  his 
building  projects.  Contrast  these  two  historic  charac- 
ters, one  bent  on  massacre,  the  other  on  masonry.  The 
terrible  losses  Hannibal  sustained  in  crossing  the  Alps 
were  not  serious  enough  to  prevent  him  engaging  the 


A  lost  inch  of  gold  may  be  found,  a  lost  inch,  of 
time  never. 

Roman  army  at  Lake  Trasimene  in  216.  Victorious  in 
this  massacre  the  one-eyed  general  administered  so 
crushing  a  defeat  to  the  Romans  at  the  bloody  battle 
of  Cannae  in  216,  when  seventy-two  thousand  Roman 
soldiers,  together  with  eighty  senators  and  the  flower 
of  the  army,  fell,  that  it  remained  a  black  day  in  Roman 
history.  In  those  days  so  many  knights  were  killed 
that  young  Hannibal  stripped  from  the  fingers  three 
bushels  of  red-stained  rings  and  sent  them  to  Carthage. 

The,xhief-characteristics  of  the  epoch  of  the  Great 
Wall  seem  to  have  been  butchering  and  building.  The 
Great  Wall  stands  at  the  close  of  the  greatest  building 
age  of  antiquity.  Athens,  under  Pericles,  had  risen  to 
unwonted  splendor.  What  a  stately  array  of  edifices 
were  on  the  hill-crest  of  the  Acropolis!  Then  was 
built  the  Parthenon,  the  edifice  which  critics  of  all 
schools  have  pronounced  the  most  faultless  in  design 
and  execution  of  all  buildings  erected  by  man.  It  cost 
$700,000! 

It  is  interesting  and  astonishing  to  learn  of  the  spirit 
of  enterprise  which  filled  one  of  the  ancient  architects, 
Dinocrates,  the  later  architect  of  Alexandria.  He  pre- 
sented plans  and  designs  to  Alexander  so  stupendous 
that  they  are  hardly  credible.  Dinocrates  actually  pro- 
posed cutting  Mount  Athos  into  the  form  of  a  man  who 
should  hold  a  great  city  in  his  left  hand  and  in  his  right 
a  cup  to  receive  all  the  rivers  which  ran  from  that 
mountain  and  to  pour  them  into  the  sea.  Alexander, 
alive  to  every  great  opportunity  and  fond  of  the  stu- 
pendous, did  not  seem  to  have  favored  this  undertaking. 


9 


62  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

In  Egypt  the  Ptolemies  were  active.  The  engineer- 
ing projects  of  Philadelphus  would  do  credit  to  modern 
engineering  art.  He  planned  a  great  canal  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  feet  wide  and  fifty  feet  deep  which 
should  connect  Pelusium  on  the  eastern  branch  of  the 
Nile  with  the  Red  Sea,  so  that  the  vessels  from  the  sea 
might  be  brought  into  the  interior. 

Not  only  on  land  but  on  sea  the  stupendous  pre- 
vailed. The  types  of  naval  architecture  of  that  period 
both  in  point  of  luxury  and  comfort,  would  do  credit 
to  a  modern  nation.  The  Egyptians  had  one  war  vessel 
four  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  with  fifty-seven 
feet  beam,  carrying  forty  banks  of  oars,  weighted  with 
lead  at  the  handles  to  more  easily  move  them.  Four 
thousand  rowers  were  required  to  propel  this  behemoth 
and  four  hundred  sailors  stood  ready  to  shift  its  sails. 
On  its  deck  enough  room  was  left  to  draw  up  in  rank 
two  thousand  soldiers  and  at  its  prow  were  seven  beaks 
with  which  to  strike  the  ships  of  the  enemy. 

About  the  same  time  Hiero  of  Syracuse  constructed 
under  the  direction  of  Archimedes,  the  inventor-philoso- 
pher, a  vessel  each  side  of  which  was  divided  into  thirty 
apartments,  besides  quarters  for  the  officers  and  the 
crew.  All  floors  in  these  apartments  were  of  mosaic 
representing  scenes  from  the  Iliad  of  Homer;  the  ceil- 
ings and  other  parts  were  also  sumptuously  finished. 
Between  the  upper  decks  was  a  gymnasium  and  prom- 
enades among  arbors  and  gardens  with  plants  and 
shrubs  of  all  kinds  beautifully  arranged,  both  a  hanging 
and  a  floating  garden.  One  room  had  a  floor  inlaid  with 
agate  and   precious  stones,   ceiling  of  cypress   wood, 


Who  thinks  much  of  wealth  and  little  of  father  and 
mother  is  not  a  son. 

and  windows  adorned  with  ivory  and  statuary.  Nor 
was  this  all;  there  was  a  library  and  an  observatory 
equipped  with  astronomical  instruments.  Finally  it 
contained  a  bathroom  of  the  most  elaborate  kind. 

But  the  vessel  was  not  merely  for  pleasure,  it  was  a 
man-of-war  as  well.  For  defensive  purposes  eight 
towers  had  been  erected,  from  each  of  which  men  hurled 
missiles  against  the  enemy  from  machines  throwing 
stones  three  hundred  pounds  in  weight. 

"These  prodigies  of  art,  and  wondrous  cost."1 

In  the  realm  of  the  intellectual  a  galaxy  of  names 
have  made  the  achievements  of  the  past  seem  inimitable. 
Homer,  Pindar  and  Sappho  had  left  their  legacy  of 
poetry,  Herodotus  had  begun  to  set  down  in  writing 
the  history  of  the  glorious  deeds  of  the  Greeks.  Law- 
givers like  Solon  and  Draco,  and  philosophers,  no 
lesser  ones  than  Socrates,  Plato  and  Aristotle  had 
reasoned  among  their  generation.  The  seven  wise  men 
of  Greece  had  been  gathered  to  their  fathers,  and  the 
standards  of  Sophocles  and  Aristophanes  and  Aeschylus 
set  by  them  for  the  drama  had  inspired  those  who  after 
them  aspired  to  honor.  Greece  had  had  her  most 
powerful  persuasive  orator  Demosthenes,  while  the  four 
schools  of  philosophy2  had  been  established,  and  the 
old  Hebrew  Testament,  the  most  remarkable  and  valu- 
able of  all  ancient  literature,  was  being  translated  into 
Greek !  The  epoch  of  the  Great  Wall  was  a  period  of 
great  thinking  and  colossal  achievement! 

'Odyssey,  Book  IV. 

3  Peripatetics,  Stoics,  Epicureans  and  Academics. 


64  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Eratosthenes,  about  this  time,  makes  an  attempt  to 
ascertain  the  length  of  a  degree,  and  in  240  B.C.  calcu- 
lates the  magnitude  of  the  earth,  while  Archimedes 
makes  his  calculations  and  inventions  in  Syracuse. 

Plutarch  begins  writing  biography;  medicine  and 
surgery  command  new  interest  and  attention.  Botany 
and  pure  mathematics,  also  mechanics,  advance  with 
rapidity,  while  Tenodatus  and  Aristophus  of  Byzan- 
tium make  their  first  philological  discoveries. 

Pergamus,  the  rich  capital  of  Mysia,  vies  with 
Alexandria  in  learning  and  sculpture.  Her  wealth  is 
untold,  for  she  harbors  part  of  the  plunder  of  Asia  that 
Alexander  had  amassed.  Her  school  of  sculpture 
leaves  the  world  the  beautiful  statue  of  "The  Dying 
Gladiator."  A  century  later  Mark  Antony  is  to  give 
his  precious  parchment  library  of  two  hundred  thousand 
volumes  to  Miss — or  Mistress — Cleopatra  of  Egypt 
for  a  kiss. 

About  250  B.C.  there  sprang  up  a  new  independent 
kingdom  in  the  East,  to  become  a  most  powerful  and 
formidable  power,  Parthia.  Arsaces  founded  it  after 
expelling  the  Macedonians.  The  new  domain  cor- 
responded to  the  modern  Khorasam. 

The  eminent  French  scholar  Choisy  holds  that  a 
wave  of  architectural  ideas,  starting  from  Chaldea  and 
Egyj)t,  swept  eastward.  The  combined  influence  of 
Egyptian  and  Assyrian  architecture  is  meant,  for  both 
countries  influenced  each  other  at  an  early  period.  In 
Persia  are  tombs  built  after  the  style  of  those  in  Egypt. 

The  revival  of  architecture  and  building  in  India 
almost  coincides  with  the  building  of  the  Great  Wall  in 


m  Ui  x-  u  m  m  65 

The  great  mountain  does  not  reject  the  smallest  dust. 

China.  It  is  the  inauguration  of  a  new  period  in  Indian 
architecture  known  as  the  Buddhist  period.  King 
Asoka  was  then  ruler  over  Afghanistan,  Hindustan, 
South  India,  and  Ceylon.  At  first  he  was  devoted  to 
the  worship  of  Brahma,  but  having  come  under  the 
teaching  of  Buddha  he  embraced  the  new  faith.  Asoka 
(236-226  B.C.)  according  to  Buddhist  legends  massacred 
a  hundred  sons  his  father  had  by  sixteen  different  wives, 
and  extended  his  empire.  With  him  began  the  history 
of  Buddhist  architecture.  He  caused  columns  with 
inscriptions,  commending  loving-kindness,  virtue,  for- 
bearance, temperance  to  be  erected  after  his  conver- 
sion to  Buddhism. 

From  this  time  dates  the  Buddhist  period.  Choisy 
thinks  that  the  remains  of  these  temples  clearly  show 
the  influence  of  Greek  architecture,  which  may  have 
come  by  way  of  Persia  and  Bactria. 

The  wave  of  Greek  influence  did  not  touch  China. 
That  China  in  the  origin  of  her  art  is  indebted  to  Chal- 
dea  we  question.  Mu-Wang,1  when  Chaldean  art  was 
at  its  zenith,  caused  terraced  temples  to  be  erected  for 
astral  worship,  and  the  introduction  of  astrology.  This 
may  show  the  influence  of  the  art  he  saw  in  distant 
lands.  And  it  is  possible  that  he  also  brought  back  with 
him  the  knowledge  of  painting  on  wood  and  the  use  of 
varnish  and  enamel  which  were  known  to  the  Chaldeans 
and  the  Egyptians.     But  the  potter's  art  and  brick 

'The  general  opinion  among  scholars  is  that  Mu-Wang  did  not  go  so 
very  far  afield  after  all— certainly  nothing  like  so  far  as  the  Mediterranean. 
Mu-Wang  himself  is  hardly  more  than  semi-historical. 


66  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

making  were  carried  to  great  perfection  in  China  in 
remotest  times.1 

In  the  building  of  the  Great  Wall  we  have  every 
evidence  that  the  use  of  mortar  was  known,  for  entire 
parts  of  this  Wall  were  constructed,  or  at  least  faced, 
with  baked  bricks  by  way  of  mortar.  Outside  of  the 
Chinese  the  Persians  seems  to  have  been  the  only  nation 
which  employed  mortar  in  construction.  Rome  made 
use  of  it  only  after  she  had  come  in  contact  with 
Persia.  The  nations  east  of  the  Euphrates  from 
remotest  times  knew  the  use  of  unbaked  brick;  and 
Dr.  Schliemann  in  his  excavations  at  Troy  found  walls 
of  houses  with  baked  and  unbaked  brick  forty-five 
centimeters  square. 

The  use  of  brick  was  necessary  for  the  nations  where 
wood  was  not  in  abundance  and  unavailable  for  build- 
ing purposes.  Hence  Egypt  and  Persia  largely  used 
brick ;  Assyria,  though  having  access  to  stone,  preferred 
the  use  of  brick.  The  brick-yards  of  Chaldea  were  a 
gigantic  industry  and  the  greatest  structures  in  that 
country  are  made  of  brick  pise,  i.e.  of  wet  clay  bricks 
laid  one  on  top  of  the  other  and  then  stamped  down 
without  any  further  cementing  material. 

Here  then  we  have  abundant  tokens  of  massive  archi- 
tecture in  the  West.  Whether  of  stone,  of  baked  brick, 
or  clay,  there  are  huge  piles  which  even  in  ruins  excite 
the  wonder  of  the  present  day.  But  did  the  West  set 
the  fashion  for  China? 

1Auguste  Choisy,  Histoirc   de   1' Architecture,  Vol.   1,  p.  180. 

"La  Chine  et  le  Japon  sont  les  contrees  6u  Tart  de  la  poterie  s'est  le 
plus  developpe:  la  brique  s'y  fabrique  avec  una  rare  perfection  et  l'usage 
en  parait  fort  ancien." 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 

The  veneering  of  cu1   stone  has  fallen  away  exposing  the  rubble  construc- 
tion inside.     This  is  peculiar  l<>  mountain   regions.     Northeast  of  the 
Thirteen    Tombs 


It  is  too  late  to  rein  in  your  horse  when  on  the 
precipice,  and  to  mend  a  leak  when  in  mid-stream. 

China  was  not  addicted  to  taking  hints  from  other 
peoples,  and  in  this  case  all  the  evidence  fails  to  link  it 
up  with  even  Bactria.  The  wave  which  started  from 
Egypt  and  rolled  on  through  Babylon,  leaving  behind 
it  such  huge  deposits  as  pyramids,  hanging  gardens, 
towers  of  Babel,  royal  palaces,  was  split  by  the  moun- 
tains. On  the  barriers  of  Afghanistan  it  dashed  itself 
in  vain,  and  India  was  left  untouched  by  the  art  of  the 
despised  outcast.  Thus  through  Asoka  there  came  to 
China  nothing  of  this  cyclopean  rage.  Out  to  the  east 
of  the  Caspian  another  part  of  the  wave  flowed  into  the 
desert,  but  there  lost  itself  in  the  sands.  We  can  trace 
nothing  that  joins  on  the  plans  of  Chin  and  his  conge- 
ners with  Kufu  or  Nitocris  or  Alexander.  Chin  was 
original. 

Since  China  and  India  have  come  under  the  influence 
of  nations  where  gigantic  structures  were  in  existence, 
and  the  cause  of  much  admiration,  the  question  has  been 
raised  why  these  two  nations  are  now  lacking  in  monu- 
mental works.  The  answer  to  this  must  be  sought  in 
the  conditions  and  government  of  the  people.  Among 
the  nations  whose  edifices  we  have  mentioned,  these 
monuments  owe  their  existence  largely  to  monarchs 
or  individuals  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  their 
name  and  glory,  whereas  China  and  India,  agricultural 
and  therefore  less  vain,  built  largely  for  the  present 
needs  of  the  people.  Thus  we  find  outside  of  the  at- 
tempt of  Chih-Huang-ti  to  embellish  his  capital,  no 
other  but  structures  of  utility  like  canals  and  highways, 
and  structures  of  defense,  among  which  the  Great  Wall 


68  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

stands  as  the  most  conspicuous  type  of  all  times.    The 
Great  Wall  marked  a  great  epoch. 

Thus,  satisfied  as  to  the  originality  of  Chin  and  the 
uniqueness  of  his  conceptions,  we  resume  our  survey  of 
the  mighty  monument  to  his  glory,  uncoiling  and  luring 
us  westward  toward  the  home  state  of  its  builder. 


«*r 


&m 


The    Greal    Wall    of    China  Photo    by     P.    E.    Dilly,    M.A.,  M.D. 

'J'hc  celebrated  "Language  Arch,"  <>r  Hexagonal  Gateway  a1  the  Nankow 
I'nss.  The  North  Face  is  lure  shown  (the  South  Face  is  the  same 
design).  The  \rcli,  the  crown  and  haunches  of  which  form  the  sides  of 
a  hexagon,  is  20  feel  across  .it  the  base,  :io  fV<-t  through,  and  has  5  Bud- 
dhas  on  each  side  of  the  fla1  haunches.  In  the  perpendicular  wall  <>n 
either  side  are  large  tablets  of  granite  with  inscriptions  in  divers 
languages 


CHAPTER  VII 

From  the  Thirteen  Tombs  to  Chinas  Sorrow 

Tombs  and  a  flood  we  sing;  or  at  least  that  section 
of  the  Great  Wall  which  is  verged  by  two  gruesome 
termini,  the  Thirteen  Tombs  and  the  Yellow  River. 

The  Eastern  Y  sends  off  its  northern  arm  of  the 
wall,  a  part  of  which  we  have  seen.  It  passes  from  the 
Eastern  Y  through  Kalgan,  but  is  badly  out  of  repair, 
while  still  farther  to  the  north  are  the  remains  of  yet 
another  wall.  Not  far  from  Chu-yung  is  a  famous 
marble  arch  spanning  the  road  along  the  Government 
Pass;  six  centuries  ago  it  was  built,  with  carvings  and 
inscriptions  in  no  fewer  than  six  languages.  This  has 
been  visited  and  photographed  so  often  that  we  be- 
lieved in  its  existence,  and  preferred  to  explore  along 
a  less  known  line  of  the  Wall. 

The  inner  line  of  defense  starts  from  the  Eastern  Y, 
joining  the  outer  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  west  and  not 
far  from  the  Yellow  River.  Before  we  went  far  along, 
we  came  to  the  famous  Thirteen  Tombs  of  the  Ming 
dynasty,  the  great  line  that  re-fortified  the  wall  and  held 
it  long  against  the  Tartars.  This  mountainous  mauso- 
leum is  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  Western 
Tombs  of  the  present  dynasty,  to  be  described  farther 
on. 

The  Mings  consulted  an  adept  in  the  study  of  the 
Booh  of  the  Blue  Bag,  a  classic  of  geomancy  some 

69 


70  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

thousand  years  old.  He,  by  the  aid  of  the  magic  tor- 
toise shell  fixed  upon  a  felicitous  ground  which  the 
emperor  approved,  and  re-named  the  Mount  of  Im- 
perial Longevity.  Here  was  laid  out  the  first  of  the 
Thirteen  Tombs,  and  here  most  of  the  race  were 
interred. 

Changling  chien  is  the  home  of  the  hereditary  tomb- 
guardians.  The  pride  of  their  charge  is  the  mound  of 
the  man  who  finished  the  northern  capital,  Yung  Lo. 
There  his  corpse  lay  in  state  for  a  year  while  the  pro- 
fessors of  geomancy  awaited  a  lucky  day  for  the  burial. 
Then  it  was  put  to  its  last  home  about  thirteen  miles 
from  the  Wall ;  a  huge  mound  was  piled  above,  and  in 
his  soul  tower  a  tablet  was  erected  to  his  memory.  One 
by  one  others  were  buried  hard  by,  till  the  lucky  num- 
ber of  thirteen  wras  complete  by  the  last  Ming  slaying 
himself  on  the  conical  coal  hill  in  the  palace  yard.  The 
cemetery  was  garnished  with  a  dozen  gigantic  mono- 
liths of  men,  and  two  dozen  of  animals:  so  impressive 
are  they  in  their  cold,  silent  majesty,  standing  naturally 
on  the  soil  without  pedestals,  that  a  later  emperor 
thought  of  transporting  all  to  grace  his  own  tomb;  but 
a  horrified  chamberlain  chipped  a  piece  off  each,  and 
thus  rendered  them  unthinkable  as  decorations  for  a 
new  tomb.  It  was  this  dynasty  which  ended  the  bury- 
ing alive  of  wives  and  concubines ;  perhaps  these  statues 
were  erected  in  place  of  them. 

Our  interest  lay  heavy  on  Lung  Ch'ing,  for  along 
the  Wall  many  tablets  told  us  of  his  interest  in  the 
Great  Barrier. 

The  main  spirit  road  does  not  lead  directly  to  the 


Dr.   W.  A.  P.  Martin  in  the  Western   Hills  near  Peking 


The  Great  Wall  of  China  Photo    by    A.    M.    Cunningham 

Coal    Hill,  inside   the   Imperial    Palace   Grounds,   Peking,   where  the  Last 
of  the   Mings   hanged   himself 


Playing  the  zither  to  an  ass  and  talking  astroloev 
to  the  blind.  s/ 

sepulcher  of  Lung  Ch'ing;  the  Thirteen  Tombs  lie  in 
a  valley  mantled  with  pines  and  arbores  vitac,  into 
which  lead  half  a  score  of  picturesque  passes,  winding 
between  thirteen  hills,  and  forming  a  lovely  theater  for 
the  imperial  shades.  As  we  approached  the  group  of 
massive  mounds,  we  noted  another  instance  of  how  East 
and  West  differ:  Menelaus  spoke  for  the  Egean: 

"For  if  the  gods  are  wise 
They  lightly  scatter  dust  upon  the  tomb 
Of  the  brave  man  who  by  his  foes  is  slain ; 
But  pile  whole  mountains  on  the  coward's  breast." 

Here,  however,  the  artificial  mountain  is  piled  by 
reverential  men  above  a  hero.  And  yet  not  all  his  sub- 
jects reverenced  Lung  Ch'ing.  As  we  climbed  up  the 
very  steep  stone  stairway  to  his  soul  tower,  we  were 
rewarded  by  the  sight  of  the  famous  tablet,  shattered. 
"Is  is  possible  that  after  all  the  geomaneers  made  a 
mistake  and  chose  an  unlucky  spot?"1  The  guardian 
wavered;  either  some  indignant  workmen  thus  vented 
their  revenge  on  the  tyrant  who  had  forced  them  to 
slave  on  the  Wall;  or  else  a  "clap  of  thunder"  had  come 
to  the  wrong  shrine  in  mistake  for  the  thunder  temple. 

The  geomaneers  in  their  art  of  balancing  the  influ- 
ences of  wind,  water  and  hill,  not  only  chose  to  put 
the  imperial  suicide  beside  Lung  Ch'ing,  but  balanced 
the  grave  by  a  tablet  with  a  moon  upon  it.  This  was 
reputed  to  wax  and  wane  with  the  original  in  the  sky, 
but  the  machinery  is  out  of  gear  and  there  seems  only 

1  A  mistake  made  in  preparing  the  grave  of  the  third  emperor  of  the 
Sung  dynasty  defeated  a  conspiracy. 


72  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

some  moonshine  about  the  incident.  The  Great  Wall 
has  fascinated  these  cemetery  surveyors,  for  there  are  a 
very  large  number  of  graves  hard  by  the  Great  Ram- 
part; indeed,  some  have  actually  been  excavated  in  its 
thickness.  Hence  it  has  been  fantastically  termed: 
"The  longest  cemetery  on  earth." 

In  the  catacombs  of  Rome,  amid  the  tombs  of  the 
dead,  the  living  Christians  sometimes  sought  shelter 
from  the  persecutions  of  the  emperor  or  the  fury  of  the 
mob.  And  so  it  was  in  this  cemetery.  Hard  by  here 
there  were  fugitive  Christians  who  found  safety  a  few 
years  ago,  hiding  in  the  caves  or  the  strong  towers  of 
the  Great  Wall,  while  others  less  fortunate  lie  buried 
not  far  away.  While  the  refugees  were  here,  they 
wrote  loving  messages  on  any  material  they  could  find, 
and  some  of  these  precious  documents  have  been  found; 
perchance  more  await  the  explorer  who  would  trace  the 
results  of  the  recent  madness.  Men  have  wondered 
whether  life  has  become  too  monotonous  and  gray  for 
the  purple  of  heroism  to  show  itself;  whether  in  this 
ease-loving  age  the  severer  tests  of  character  would  not 
excite  solicitude  and  alarm.  "Should  the  cycle  of  time 
return  us  to  the  martyr  days  with  vast  amphitheaters 
crowded  to  the  parapet,  what  then?  Lions,  tigers,  racks, 
boiling  oil,  slow  fire,  mutilation;  will  these  elicit  the 
Christian  virtues?"  No  cycle  of  time  is  needed,  only  a 
change  of  place;  Uganda  and  China  have  exhibited  to 
this  generation  men  in  such  straits,  climbing  the  steep 
ascent  of  heaven  through  peril,  toil  and  pain. 

On  a  spot  north  of  this  inner  loop  perished  eleven 
white  and  thirty-two  yellow  Christians.    For  the  whites 


In  the  prosperity  and  decay  of  the  state  a  common 
man  has  his  share. 

there  was  no  option;  death  was  certain,  and  was  made 
attractive  as  an  end  of  awful  torture  devised  by  an 
ingenious,  implacable  and  atrocious  foe;  they  met  it 
with  a  calmness  born  of  eternal  hope.  But  in  the  yel- 
lows there  was  an  opportunity  to  bow  to  Buddha ;  a  very 
few  under  unparalleled  trials  slipped  through  this  loop- 
hole; most  joined  the  victors  who  bear  the  palm-branch 
of  victory.  The  whites  were  beheaded  first,  then,  in 
horrid  mockery  of  the  Christian  sacrament,  the  natives 
were  obliged  to  kneel  and  drink  their  blood  before  they, 
too,  received  the  death  blow.  Here  then  is  one  of  the 
sacred  spots  of  earth.  The  Invalides,  Westminster, 
Mount  Vernon?  These  entomb  no  martyrs  for  Christ. 
The  tumuli  of  Croesus,  the  pyramid  of  Cheops,  the 
thirteen  Ming  tombs,  what  are  they  beside  these  humble 
graves  of  Shan-si,  where  lie,  between  the  two  arms  of 
the  Great  Wall,  the  Martyrs  of  the  North? 

Are  the  Chinese  bloody?  In  the  last  fifty  years  they 
have  shed  less  gore  than  any  nation  half  their  size. 
These  believers  in  the  Sacred  Edict  with  its  sixteen 
maxims  have  taken  fewer  lives  than  followers  of  the 
Swordless  Christ,  believers  in  the  Ten  Commandments. 
The  Civil  War  in  America,  Austrians,  Prussians  and 
French  in  central  Europe,  Russia  and  Turkey  to  the 
east,  Britons  in  South  Africa !  May  not  the  Chinaman 
kill  a  paltry  two  hundred  when  Christendom  slaughters 
a  hundredfold! 

From  the  graves  of  the  humble  Christians,  pass  to  the 
magnificent  cemetery  of  their  persecutors,  the  Western 
Tombs  of  the  present  dynasty.     This  is  the  third  Im- 


74  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

perial  Burial  Reserve  we  have  met  along  the  Wall; 
the  first  is  the  Eastern  Mausolea,  more  popular  of  re- 
cent years;  the  second  is  the  more  ancient  Graveyard 
of  the  Mings  with  their  thirteen  tombs;  this  is  the 
Western  Cemetery,  southwest  of  Peking.  Here  are 
permanent  camps  where  a  garrison  commanded  by  a 
prince  of  the  blood  keeps  guard  over  the  bones  of  his 
ancestors.  A  rugged  mountain  ridge  forms  the  north- 
ern boundary;  dark  pines  rustle  over  the  wide  ex- 
panse, whence  gleam  the  red  walls  and  gilded  roofs 
of  the  edifices.  Canals  border  off  one  plot  from  an- 
other, and  stately  marble  bridges  span  them  for  roads 
to  the  tombs. 

Visit  one  of  the  older  monuments.  They  face  south 
to  garner  in  the  favorable  influences.  Inscriptions 
in  Chinese,  Manchurian  and  Mongol  characters — for 
this  dynasty  is  foreign — adorn  the  avenue.  Pass  over 
the  waterway,  along  the  paved  road,  under  the  arch- 
ways, and  when  expectation  is  kindling,  behold  an  altar 
for  the  emperor  alone  to  sacrifice  upon,  in  a  court 
reserved  for  his  sole  use.  Seek  the  goal  of  this  mag- 
nificent approach,  and  there  is  a  throne,  draped  in 
yellow  silk,  whereon  is  mounted  the  tablet  of  the  de- 
parted. Before  it  is  a  table  with  censors  and  with 
bowls  for  the  blood  of  the  sacrifices.  Is  this  the  end? 
Behind  the  building  is  the  hill  scarped  vertical,  and  with 
a  recess  marking  where  the  tunnel  was  driven  in  to 
receive  the  coffin  of  the  dead  ruler.  Is  it  true  that  when 
the  bearers  carried  in  their  ponderous  burden,  the 
masons  waited  not  for  their  return,  but  walled  up  the 
quick  and  the  dead  together? 


.2     « 


Rebuke  yourself  as  you  rebuke  others  ;  love  others 
as  you  love  yourself. 

Tao  Ivuang,  who  died  in  1850,  is  the  last  emperor 
entombed  here,  with  his  household  grouped  around. 
But  since  this  journey  along  the  Great  Wall  began 
the  last  sovereign  of  his  race  has  been  laid  at  rest  among 
these  Western  Tombs  of  a  dynasty  that  is  marvelously 
transforming  its  realms  after  a  vain  struggle  against 
the  forces  of  change.1 

Many  towers  of  the  Great  Barrier  remain  intact, 
and  even  much  of  the  Wall.  Thus  far  in  our  trip  of 
six  hundred  miles  we  appreciate  the  work  of  the  en- 
gineers who  brought  masses  of  stone,  brick  and  mortar 
and  built  them  solidly.  But  our  native  companions 
appreciate  yet  more  highly  the  work  of  the  geomancers 
who  fixed  the  sites  of  the  towers,  and  so  brought  down 
good  influences  on  the  fields  around.  One  guide  would 
never  enter  a  tower  without  kotowing  thrice  and  re- 
peating a  formula  for  luck,  a  prayer  to  the  god  of  war. 

The  Wutai  Shan  is  a  lofty  shrine  near  this  Wall; 
and  if  the  Wall  is  in  a  fair  way  to  become  sacred,  the 
Wutai  Shan  has  arrived.  Only,  strange  to  say,  it 
is  sacred  to  the  Mongols,  the  people  who  were  to  be  kept 

1  In  this  Imperial  Forest  Reserve  are  various  animals,  including  three 
varieties  of  wildcat,  the  long-haired,  common,  and  spotted;  three  hamsters, 
the  desert,  striped  and  common;  two  jerboas,  the  dipus  Sowerbyi,  and 
the  alactaga  which  has  five  toes,  instead  of  three,  and  larger,  longer  ears. 
Then  there  are  the  interesting  goitered  antelope,  badger  hedgehog,  mole, 
mole-rat,  myotis,  suslik  or  ground  squirrel,  chipmunk,  and  rodents.  The 
hare  and  his  near  relation,  the  pika,  enjoy  the  Western  Tombs  as  do  rats 
and  nats. 

The  large  forest,  a  day's  journey  south  of  the  Wall  at  Ningwufu,  in 
addition  to  the  above  accommodates  the  roe  deer,  Peking  stag,  leopard, 
wild  pig,  David's  squirrel,  musk  deer,  and  small  mice,  while  north  of  the 
Inner  Loop  are  mountain  sheep,  with  enormous  horns,  who  endure  "the  bold 
society  of  wolves  and  foxes." 


76  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

out  by  the  Wall,  and  yet  it  is  within  the  circuit.  Per- 
haps many  centuries  later  it  attracted  them  within  and 
nerved  them  for  the  onslaught.  If  once  again  the 
hardy  horsemen  of  the  north  seek  to  flood  over  the 
empire,  this  racial  shrine  may  prove  of  crucial  im- 
portance. If  the  Jewish  fanatics  rallied  against  the 
legions  at  Jerusalem,  if  a  Christian  assault  on  Mecca 
be  almost  unthinkable,  let  the  Russian  bear  hesitate 
before  provoking  the  Mongols  by  violating  this  sacred 
mountain,  whence  the  more  pious  will  return  even  a 
thousand  miles,  measuring  their  length  on  the  ground. 

The  Wall  itself  finds  votaries  all  along  its  course. 
The  mortar  from  its  crevices  works  wonderful  cures, 
especially  for  punctures  of  the  dermis.  "If  you  cut 
a  mouth  in  your  hand,  take  of  the  Magic  Mortar  quan- 
tum sufF.  and  pulverize,  take  an  unborn  mouse  and 
mash  it  into  the  powdered  lime;  apply  the  ointment  to 
the  mouth.  Should  the  mouse  be  not  available,  sub- 
stitute oil."  The  same  mixture  is  good  for  burns — or 
is  good  to  take  off  more  skin.  If  applied  internally 
it  will  cure  stomach-ache;  for  an  average  stomach  and 
an  average  ache  take  a  pill  the  size  and  shape  of  a  lotus- 
seed;  for  a  baby,  less.  Life  may  be  hard  in  China, 
but  death  seems  harder  if  men  will  try  such  remedies 
as  Boho,  Frog-blood-extract,  Mouse-mortar-pills. 

The  pathos  of  life  here  was  well  illustrated  by  the 
gloom  of  a  coolie  met  at  a  fork  in  a  road.  We  asked 
which  branch  led  to  the  Wall,  and  how  far  off  it  was; 
he  told  the  way,  and  told  correctly  enough  that  it  was 
three  miles  off.  "But  I  have  not  seen  it;  to  gather 
fuel  takes  me  from  early  morning  till  toward  sunset 


The    Great    Wall     of    China 
Tower   No.   41    Ch'a   Tzii   at   Tushancheng 


Phot. is    by    Dr.    Geil 


mmmmmmm  77 

A  dragon  floundering  in  shallow  waters  incurs  the 
ridicule  of  shrimps. 

in  the  woods ;  then  the  heavy  burden  prevents  me  from 
looking  up,  and  I  have  never  set  eyes  upon  it."  Yet 
how  many  Londoners  have  seen  the  Tower?  How 
many  Kentuckians  their  Mammoth  Cave? 

Where  solid  facts  are  wanting,  fluid  fancy  easily 
arises.  John  Gwadey  here  produced  a  tale  of  Chin 
and  his  big  bludgeon.  This  was  seven  Chinese  feet 
long,  studded  with  knobs  of  metal — iron  or  gold — and 
precious  stones.  This  had  magic  properties,  so  that 
when  the  Wall  was  built  of  any  material  that  came 
handy,  Chin  struck  it  with  his  staff,  and  it  all  changed 
to  one  kind  of  stone — which  remains  to  prove  the  story. 
More,  it  could  make  stones  fly  in  any  direction,  and 
this  properly  proved  disastrous.  For  when  he  flung 
one  into  the  sea  at  Chefoo,  it  hit  the  sea  god,  who  was 
incensed,  and  decided  to  take  away  the  dangerous 
weapon. 

From  these  picturesque  legends  turn  to  solid  fact. 
We  discovered  several  tablets  which  record  either  the 
original  construction  of  the  Wall  or  the  last  rebuilding 
of  it  and  of  the  towers.  Here  is  one  in  the  armory 
tower  at  Peh  Shih  K'ow.  A  complete  translation 
follows : 

Built  in  the  autumn  of  the  first  year  of  Wan  Li,  by 
Wang  Tao  Kung  of  Sihsien,  inspector  of  Chi  (Chicow) 
Liao  (Yung  ping  Fu)  and  Paoting  Border  Affairs,  junior 
vice-president  of  the  Board  of  War,  and  associate  president 
of  the  Court  of  Censors,  Liu  Ying-chieh  of  Weihsien,  di- 
rector general  of  Military  Affairs  for  Chi,  Liao,  Paoting 
and  other  Departments,  controller  of  commissary  supplies, 
associate  president   of  the  Court  of  Censors,  and  junior 


78  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

vice-president  of  the  Board  of  War,  Sun  Pei-yang  of 
Fup'ing-hsien,  governor  of  Paoting  and  other  Depart- 
ments, commander-in-chief  of  Tze  King  (Purple  Thorn 
Bush)  and  other  passes,  and  associate  president  of  the 
Board  of  Censors,  Wang  Hsiang  of  P'ingtu,  associate 
governor  of  Chihli  and  supervising  censor  of  Provincial 
Circuits.  Kao  Wen-chien  of  Ch'engtu  in  command  of 
military  functions  at  Tze  King  and  other  places  and  coun- 
cilor in  the  governor's  office,  Shantung,  Fu  Chin  of  Yensui, 
brigadier  general  of  Paoting  and  superintendent  of  affairs 
Wang  Fu  Min  of  Yensui,  adjutant  general  and  associate 
commander  of  Tze  King  Pass  and  other  places.  Chang 
Chu  of  Nganning,  assistant  prefect  of  Paoting  Depart- 
ment in  control  of  the  Tze  King  Pass,  Chu  Chia-Chiang  of 
Chengting,  junior  captain  in  charge  of  Peh  Shih  (White 
Stone)  Pass,  Huang  Sheng,  deputy  director  of  Hwei  Yiin 
and  Hsing  Lan  Ting,  overseer  of  works,  keeper  of  Yang 
Chuan  Tze  K'ow  (Sheep  Fold  Pass)  and  brevet  captain  in 
charge  of  the  Middle  Post  of  the  Advance  Guard. 

Then  in  the  same  tower  is  a  second  tablet  which 
records  the  building  of  the  Wall;  but  the  tablet  is  too 
defaced  to  allow  of  the  exact  translating  of  the  whole 
text.  This  is  certain;  it  accounts  for  the  building  of 
two  pieces  of  First  Class  Wall;  each  piece  was  one 
hundred  and  forty-eight  tens  of  feet  long  plus  eight 
feet.  It  was  built  in  the  lucky  days  of  the  winter  season 
in  the  third  year  of  Wan  Li. 

Or  take  a  third:  a  tablet  stands  beside  the  Natural 
Tower,  between  Towers  Number  Fifty-three  and 
Fifty-four  Black  Letter,  Shui  K'ow  and  reads: 

WALL  RECORD 

General  of  the  light  brigade  Tsui  Ching,  commanding 
the  yeomanry  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  governor  by 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 


Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 


How  the  Wall  climbs  the.  ridge  of  Shweikow  north  of  the  Wut'ai  Shan 


A  woman  with  a  lone  tojigue  is  a  ladder  of  woe. 
imperial  appointment  at  Paoting,  Ensign  Shen  Tzu  Hsien 
of  the  above  department,  Ensign  Sun  Erh-Kuo,  superin- 
tendent of  works,  Lui  Ching,  military  contractor,  and  others 
to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  names  cooperated 
in  building  this  extension  of  five  hundred  and  ninety-one 
feet,  six  inches,  of  Third  Class  Wall,  beginning  on  the 
north  at  the  end  of  the  Military  Graduate  Lung  Kuang- 
hsien's  portion  of  Tower  Number  Fifty-five  of  the  Black 
Letter  "Wu"  series.     The  completion  of  the  construction 
was  reported  by  the  Autumn  Guard  on  the  sixteenth  day 
of  the  ninth  moon,  of  the  fourth  year  of  Wan  Li. 
Master  Stone  Mason  Chao  Yen  Mei  and  others. 
Master  Border  Artisan  Lu  Huan  and  others. 

This  stone  wTas  erected  by  the  Autumn  Guard 
on  the  sixteenth  day  of  the  ninth  moon,  4th 
year  of  Wan  Li. 

A  fourth  tablet  is  set  in  the  Wall  south  of  Shui  K'ow 
and  commemorates  how: 

Li  Pei,  major  of  the  Central  Camp  of  Chen  Tu  Tang 
Hsiin,  sergeant  in  command  of  the  Department  of  the 
Right  and  brevet  captain  of  the  Shen  Wu  Right  Guard, 
heading  a  battalion  of  one  hundred  and  forty-one  names, 
cooperated  in  constructing  one  hundred  and  seventy-one 
feet,  eight  inches  of  Middle  Class  Border  Wall,  be- 
ginning on  the  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Wang  Erh 
Hurry-Scurry  Ravine,  at  the  connection  with  Tower  Num- 
ber Fifty-five  of  the  Letter  Wu  series,  and  ending  with 
the  termination  of  the  wall  constructed  by  Sergeant 
Yang  Hang,  director  of  wTorks  of  the  above-mentioned 
Department. 

The  work  was  begun  on  the  twelfth  day  of  the 
third  moon  of  the  current  year,  and  its  completion 
reported  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  the  fourth 
moon. 

This  stone  was  erected  by  the  Spring 
Guard  in  the  4th  year  of  Wan  Li. 


80  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

These  four  tablets  and  others  which  we  found  witness 
to  a  simultaneous  and  hasty  construction  of  Wall  in 
the  reign  of  Wan  Li.  They  suggest  that  the  old  Wall 
had  fallen  into  bad  condition,  but  that  the  towers  were 
in  better  order,  and  were  carefully  numbered.  Perhaps 
they  had  been  used  as  blockhouses  for  some  time,  but 
some  fresh  menace  of  invasion  caused  a  general  over- 
hauling of  the  defenses.  First,  the  towers  were  put  in 
thorough  repair,  then  the  wall  between  them  was  rebuilt 
at  a  speed  that  reminds  us  of  Nehemiah's  forced  labor 
at  Jerusalem. 

If,  perhaps,  the  Wall  in  this  part  is  of  comparatively 
recent  construction,  the  ancient  engineers  who  laid  out 
the  line  seem  to  have  done  their  best  in  selecting  natural, 
strong  lines  of  defense,  and  then  intensifying  these. 
Indeed,  they  followed  the  line  of  greatest  natural  re- 
sistance. In  parts  more  inland  they  had  occasionally  to 
deal  with  a  mere  plain,  but  here  they  had  crags  and 
mountain  chains.  Two  level  furrows  were  chiseled  out 
in  the  solid  rock,  about  twenty-five  feet  apart,  and 
squared  granite  blocks  were  laid  on  this  foundation 
some  few  feet  up.  Then  special  clay  was  chosen  and 
molded  by  skilled  workmen  into  bricks  twenty-two 
and  one  half  inches  long.  The  unwieldy  blocks,  accord- 
ing to  another  local  legend,  were  tied  to  goats,  who 
dragged  them  up  the  almost  inaccessible  ridges.  Here 
the  bricklayers  placed  them,  all  as  headers,  not  stretch- 
ers, and  the  two  faces  were  filled  with  earth  well 
rammed.  As  the  Wall  arose,  it  was  seen  that  its  pro- 
jecting faces  formed  a  mutually  defensive  scheme  of 
salients  and  curtains. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
A    Picturesque    View 


Words  spoken  in  the  fields,  some  one  on  the  road  hears. 

Through  centuries  of  neglect  this  massive  structure 
has  endured, — a  fit  emblem  of  the  Chinese  character. 
Little  by  little  it  has  gathered  to  itself  legend  and  super- 
stition. If  wells  and  trees,  chairs  and  tables,  are  sup- 
posed to  be  the  abode  of  spirits,  how  much  more  easy 
to  imagine  this  Wall  the  home  of  a  superior  race.  A 
tower  or  peak  to  the  north  of  a  home  assures  its  good 
fortune,  the  Wall  to  the  north  of  the  empire  must  be 
propitious.  And  if  the  Wall  have  numerous  pinnacles, 
these  must  bring  special  good  influences  down.  The 
canny  foreigner  will  know  how  to  utilize  this  idea,  and 
when  he  wants  to  put  up  a  factory  stack,  but  finds  the 
esthetes  object,  he  has  only  to  locate  it  to  the  north  of 
the  factory  and  point  out  that  he  is  insuring  its  good 
luck,  and  this  reason  will  carry  weight:  ask  the  super- 
intendent of  the  arsenal  if  in  1873  this  did  not  remove 
his  obstacles.  And  thus  the  towers  along  the  Wall, 
being  properly  located,  add  moral  strength  to  its 
defenders. 

As  we  try  to  find  one  thousand  different  people  along 
the  Wall  and  get  one  thousand  legends  or  opinions,  we 
come  at  times  across  a  few  curious  specimens.  One 
legend  is  strangely  utilitarian.  "Chin  went  up  to 
heaven  and  took  hold  of  the  frost  tree ;  he  shook  it  and 
shook  it  till  the  country  was  covered  de^p  with  frost1 
and  all  the  young  crops  were  ruined.  Then  he  obliged 
the  people  to  work  on  the  Wall,  but  would  not  give  them 
enough  to  eat."    The  old  grumbler  who  produced  this 

"'B.C.  238  in  the  4th  moon,  there  appeared   a  great  frost  in  Tsln  so 
that  people  died  from  it."     Ancient  Chinese  MSS. 
6 


82  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

tale  was  overlooking  that  the  Wall  shut  off  some  of  the 
cold  north  winds,  and  shut  out  the  desperate  foragers 
from  the  Mongolian  steppes. 

A  little  westward  the  scenery  is  wonderfully  beauti- 
ful, as  was  recognized  by  an  imperial  censor  about  the 
year  1570.  He  caused  an  original  ode  to  be  incised 
upon  a  stone  slab;  the  version  following  is  due  to  Dr. 
Martin,  founded  on  our  rubbings,  expressly  for  this 
expedition : 

Yon  summit  like  an  arrow  head 

Appears  to  pierce  the  skies ; 
A  rocky  fortress  westward  looms, 

A  battleground  there  lies. 

The  northern  sky  is  veiled  in  clouds, 

The  harvest  gathered   in ; 
Our  autumn  rains,  a  precious  boon, 

Will  very  soon  begin. 

Peaceful  the  times,  the  flocks  at  ease 

O'er  grassy  plains  may  roam ; 
There's  scarcely  heard  a  falling  leaf 

To  mar  our  dreams  of  home. 

Wen  Ju-chang,  of  the  Board  of  Censors, 
in  command  of  Border  Garrisons,  Imperial 
Commissioner  on  a  tour  of  inspection. 

It  seems  a  pity  to  descend  to  prose  after  such  a 
spirited  reproduction  of  the  original.  But  for  those 
who  want  a  baldly  literal  version,  here  is  a  Bohn: 

The  Arrowhead  Mountain    rears   its  vast  mass   against 
the  crystal  sky ;    the  rocky  fortress  to  the  west  appears, 


jl  m  #  s  si@»         83 

If  you  don't  wonder  at  the  wonderful  it  ceases  to 
be  a  wonder. 

and  farther  away  a  well-known  battleground.  Two  moun- 
tain ranges  unite  to  inclose  a  camp  of  the  ancient  Chin 
Tartars  (the  Golden  Horde).  A  stream  of  water  flows 
athwart,  with  iron  bridge  and  lock.  The  north  is  veiled 
in  clouds,  the  ripe  grain  is  all  gathered  in,  the  autumn 
rains  from  the  northwest  begin  to  increase.  The  times  are 
tranquil ;  from  the  Great  Desert  is  neither  smoke  nor  dust 
(from  the  camps  or  marching  of  soldiers).  After  sunset 
the  drifting  leaves  alone  disturb  our  dreams  (of  home). 

This  poetical  effusion  with  the  vastness  of  the  over- 
hanging space  and  the  soul-enthralling  earth  scene, 
prompted  my  muse  to  vague  yearnings.  Here  the 
works  of  nature  and  of  man  intermingle,  sheer  preci- 
pices affright,  steep  altitudes,  up  which  winds  the  line 
of  battlements  jeweled  by  the  massy  towers,  lead  up 
the  vision  to  the  living  light. 

In  the  grouping  of  the  mountains, 
In  the  tracing  of  the  valleys, 
In  the  shaping  of  the  hilltops, 
And  the  arching  of  the  heavens, 
There  are  scenes  and  deep  impressions, 
Which  the  mighty  mind  of  Milton 
Or  the  aged  seer  of  Patmos, 
Both  inspired  and  yet  still  human, 
Fitly  might  describe  for  mortals. 

But  it  must  suffice  to  say  that  this  picturesque  pass 
is  bounded  on  two  opposite  sides  by  friendly  mountains 
on  whose  neighboring  flanks  the  firs  mantle  the  hard 
rock.  Among  the  thronging  hills  and  peaks  winds  the 
Great  Wall;  beyond  a  single  bare  valley  lies  a  remote 


84  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

and  hazy  horizon.  But  toward  the  rising  sun  a  vista  of 
ravines  and  heaps  of  heights  rise  loftier  and  ever 
more  blue  until  the  line  of  land  is  lost  in  the  ocean  of 
the  sky. 

Could  we  but  see  the  original  design  on  which  nature 
wrought  when  these  majestic  proportions  came  fresh 
from  the  creative  hand;  could  we  but  study  them  in 
silence,  alone  upon  this  lofty  summit  where  we  stand 
among  the  sighing  pines;  could  we  but  compare  them 
with  the  present  superb  vision;  what  would  be  more 
inevitable  than  to  ask,  "What  relation  does  the  outward 
world  bear  to  the  unseen  world  of  thought;  the  down- 
ward gaze  prompts  to  upward  musing,  and  leads  to 
consciousness  of  conscience." 

And  conscience  is  stirred  by  the  sight  of  one  human 
amendment  to  God's  proposals.  A  film  of  blue  smoke 
floating  from  a  humble  home  enwraps  a  mud-walled, 
curved-roofed  fane  or  temple,  wherein  are  idols  not  fit 
for  men  to  see,  much  less  to  worship.  To  contemplate 
the  handiwork  of  God  in  this  masterpiece  of  the 
Creator  and  then  make  deities  of  mud!  Have  the 
aborigines  done  this,  or  only  half  of  this?  We  exclaim, 
"How  has  man  fallen,  or  from  what  a  fall  has  he  not 
arisen!"  Not  mountain  majesty,  not  heavenly  expanse, 
not  splendors  of  art,  not  miracles  of  science,  can  uplift 
men  and  nations.  Beauty  depends  not  only  on  the 
outward  scene,  nor  on  the  seeing  eye,  but  on  the  inter- 
preting mind  and  heart. 

Yet  would  that  we  had  been  able  to  photograph  this 
wondrous  landscape  in  all  its  glorious  changes  for  one 
brief  hour.    It  is  not  the  still  picture,  but  the  fleeting 


'■5 


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^ 


s  ^ 


£       3 


The  door  of  charity  is  hard  to  open  and  hard  to  shut. 

shadows  of  the  clouds,  the  light  ever  changing,  which 
so  enriched  the  vision.  The  dark  cloud  floats  by;  from 
the  sun  comes  a  gleam  that  gilds  with  glory  the  moun- 
tains and  picks  out  the  chain  of  Wall  with  its  jewels  of 
towers.  Words  fail  to  tell  the  splendors  of  this  view 
above  the  pass  of  Ch'ach'ien  Kow.  Even  "if  life  be 
granted  me  enough,"  however  often  my  longing  feet 
may  draw  me  hither,  there  will  be  some  fresh  scene  of 
magnificence,  the  scene  in  the  same  group  of  natural 
spires  and  these  human  buttresses  of  granite,  yet  ever 
new  in  the  glory  of  the  seasons  and  of  the  heavens. 

Here  we  have  come  across  inscriptions  of  the  reign 
of  Wan  Li,  and  seen  the  tomb  of  Lung  Ch'ing.  Let 
us  investigate  these  two  men  and  see  what  exactly  they 
had  to  do  with  the  Great  Wall.  Wan  Li  at  least  is  so 
closely  associated  that  in  this  part  of  the  country  many 
people  speak  not  of  the  "Ten  thousand  li  long  wall" 
but  of  "Wan  Li's  Wall,"  both  being  pronounced  Wan- 
lich'ang  Ch'eng. 

Who  was  this  great  king? 

Wan  Li  "sat  under  heaven,"  as  the  Chinese  phrase 
has  it,  for  the  lengthy  period  of  forty-seven  years.  He 
was  preceded  by  Lung  Ch'ing,  who  occupied  the  throne 
for  no  more  than  six  years,  yet  it  was  during  his  brief 
tenure  that  no  fewer  than  one  thousand  two  hundred 
forts  were  erected  on  the  Great  Wall,  each  garrisoned 
by  one  hundred  men.  Numerous  tablets  along  the  Wall 
testify  to  his  activity  in  building  and  repairing.  This 
renewed  care  of  the  huge  bulwark  betokens  a  menace  of 
some  sort  in  that  direction.     In  fact  the  Chin  Tartars, 


86  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

sometimes  called  "the  Golden  Horde,"  had  not  for- 
gotten that  they  had  once  been  masters  of  half  the 
empire.  They  were  watching  for  an  opportunity  to 
reassert  their  ancient  claims.  Foiled  by  the  vigilance 
of  Lung  Ch'ing  or  his  officers  they  had  nothing  left  but 
to  nurse  their  strength  and  bide  their  time.  Unable  to 
cross  the  Wall  they  wandered  away  to  the  east,  and 
obtained  a  footing  in  Manchuria,  where  they  reappeared 
under  a  new  name  as  Manchus. 

What  Wan  Li  accomplished  in  strengthening  that 
incomparable  fortification  is  in  the  history,  which  is 
supplemented  by  many  stone  tablets.  During  his  long 
reign  the  forts  were  occupied  and  the  towers  were  not 
allowed  to  go  to  ruin.  In  fact,  the  explorer  finds  that 
at  many  points  new  masonry  was  erected  by  him.  Evi- 
dence is  not  wanting  of  the  unsleeping  vigilance  with 
which  the  Chinese  of  that  day  kept  watch  on  both  the 
inner  and  the  outer  wall. 

Near  the  end  of  the  dynasty  and  not  free  from  the 
faults  of  a  decadent  period,  Wan  Li  may  not  unfairly 
be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  average  emperor.  Proclaimed 
heir  apparent  when  an  infant  of  six  summers,  he 
ascended  the  "Precious  Seat"  at  the  age  of  ten,  but 
remained  in  tutelage  until  his  sixteenth  year  when  he 
was  permitted  to  marry  and  to  assume  the  reins  of 
government.  Of  his  early  precocity  the  court  chronicler 
gives  the  following  instance:  "When  a  child  of  five 
or  six  years,  he  one  day  saw  his  father  gallop  un- 
attended into  the  inclosure  of  the  inner  palace.  Strik- 
ing an  attitude  he  begged  to  remonstrate,  not  on  the 
impropriety    of    an    emperor    galloping   within    those 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by   Dr.    Geil 

Mark  the  Line  of  the  Tower  Wall  at  the  left.     Near  Lienhwachih 


*p  m  &  it  87 

Amiability  begets  wealth. 

sacred  grounds,  but  on  the  danger  of  his  doing  so. 
Said  the  child,  'Your  majesty  is  "the  Lord  of  all  under 
heaven."  If  you  ride  alone  at  such  a  furious  speed  might 
you  not  fall,  for  which  you  and  your  people  would  be 
sorry?'  "  His  mother,  one  of  the  secondary  wives,  was 
in  the  habit  of  taking  him  with  her  whenever  she  went 
to  visit  the  empress.  On  such  occasions  the  empress 
always  took  up  some  of  the  classics  and  asked  the  young 
prince  questions.  All  of  which  he  "answered  like  an 
echo." 

Not  until  the  first  year  of  his  reign  were  the  water- 
courses so  improved  as  to  admit  of  the  tribute  rice 
reaching  the  garrison  of  Miyiien,  which  is  near  Kupei- 
kow,  the  "ancient  northern  pass"  in  the  Great  Wall. 
This  was  really  an  extension  of  the  great  canal,  a  work 
which  the  Mongols  had  left  unfinished,  and  large 
portions  of  which  were  completed  by  their  Chinese 
successors. 

The  official  history  of  his  reign  presents  us  with  a 
confused  medley  of  occurrences,  such  as  a  child  might 
jot  from  day  to  day,  or  a  monk  put  down  on  his  parch- 
ment, confounding  trivial  and  important,  local  and 
general,  fact  and  legend;  but  with  no  attempt  at  tra- 
cing connection  or  generalizing.  The  account  of  his 
first  year  is  as  follows:  "In  the  second  moon  on  the  day 
Kuei  Ch'ow,  the  emperor  presided  for  the  first  time  at 
an  entertainment  given  to  the  higher  literary  graduates. 
On  the  third  moon,  Ping  Shen  Day,  an  edict,  command- 
ing all  officials  whether  of  the  capital  or  of  the  provinces 
to  recommend  men  of  ability  from  whom  high  military 


88  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

officers  might  be  chosen.  Summer,  fourth  moon,  I 
Ch'ow  Day,  the  news  comes  of  the  suppression  of  a  re- 
bellion near  Swatow  in  Kwang  Tung.  On  Keng  Wu 
Day  of  the  same  moon,  a  distressing  drought  being  re- 
ported the  emperor  commanded  all  his  officers  to  culti- 
vate their  virtues  and  examine  their  conduct.1  In  the 
fifth  moon,  on  the  Kia  Shen  Day,  by  decree  he  ordered 
all  officials  of  the  capital  and  provinces  to  be  careful 
in  imprisonments  and  the  infliction  of  punishment.  In 
the  sixth  moon,  on  Jen  Shen  Day,  he  ordered  relief  to 
be  given  to  the  settlers  from  floods  in  North  Kansu. 
Seventh  moon,  day  not  given,  the  Yellow  River  burst 
its  banks  at  Su  Chow.2  In  the  ninth  moon,  on  the  Kuei 
Wei  Day,  relief  was  given  to  three  districts  in  Hupeh 
and  Shangtung.  News  comes  of  the  suppression  of  a 
revolt  in  Szechwan.  He  orders  as  an  expression  of  joy 
the  suspension  of  punishments.  In  the  eleventh  moon 
he  commands  the  provincial  officers  to  keep  a  careful 
journal  of  their  movements  in  order  to  prevent  loss  of 
time.  In  the  twelfth  moon  supplies  were  issued  to  suf- 
ferers from  famine  in  Manchuria.  This  year  the 
Siamese  and  Lewchewans  came  to  the  capital  with 
tribute."  Let  this  be  sufficient  for  a  specimen  of  the 
style  from  which  the  student  of  Chinese  history  is 
obliged  to  extract  great  truths  and  great  principles. 
In  Wan  Li's  third  year,  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  taking 

1  The  Ecclesia  or  Assembly  of  Athens  suffered  a  similar  manipulation. 
"If  any  untoward  sign  occurred  which  seemed  to  indicate  the  displeasure 
of  the  gods,  such  as  an  earthquake,  or  thunder  or  lightning,  or  even  rain, 
the  sitting  broke  up  at  once." 

2  We  cannot  find  any  town  of  this  name  on  the  Yellow  River.  There  is 
a  Suchow  in  Kansu,  and  a  Siichow  (not  very  far  off  the  river)  in  Honan. 


»  «*  »  #  fi  ft  «  89 

A  great  man  is  one  who  knows  the  times. 

place,  his  majesty  wrote  down  twelve  good  resolutions 
for  his  own  guiding,  and  suspended  them  on  the  right 
hand  of  his  throne  to  be  a  perpetual  monitor.  They 
were  as  follows :  "Heed  the  warnings  of  Heaven.  Em- 
ploy the  worthy  and  the  able.  Keep  virtuous  officers 
near  your  person.  Put  the  vicious  far  away.  Let  re- 
wards and  punishments  be  well  defined.  Be  careful  as 
to  those  who  go  in  and  out  of  the  palace.  Rise  early. 
Be  temperate.  Recall  your  wandering  thoughts.  Be 
reverent  toward  Heaven.  Listen  to  faithful  admoni- 
tion. Beware  of  lavish  expenditure."  Had  he  lived 
up  to  these  principles,  what  a  paragon  of  virtue  the 
world  might  have  witnessed.  Yet  after  studying  his 
subsequent  career  we  have  to  exclaim,  "What  an  im- 
mense contrast  between  promise  and  performance!" 

His  reverence  for  Heaven  was  mere  superstition.  An 
earthquake  having  occurred,  or  a  strange  appearance 
being  observed  among  the  stars,  a  comet,  or  an  eclipse, 
a  drought,  or  a  flood,  or  even  a  fire  in  the  palace,  a  de- 
cree always  followed  commanding  the  officers  to  look 
into  their  own  faults.  Seldom,  indeed,  did  the  emperor 
advert  to  his  own.  The  custom  of  thus  regarding  un- 
usual manifestations  in  the  course  of  nature  is  still  kept 
up.  In  fact  it  is  only  during  the  present  moon  and 
since  the  accession  of  a  new  emperor  that  the  beating 
of  gongs  to  succor  the  "laboring  moon"  during  an 
eclipse  has  been  forbidden.  If  we  compare  Wan  Li's 
conduct  toward  his  officials  with  his  loud  profession,  we 
are  shocked  by  the  contrast.  One  of  his  high  officers 
implored   him  to   name   a   successor,   no   doubt   from 


90  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

patriotic  motives,  in  view  of  the  danger  which  always 
accompanied  a  change  of  rulers.  Yet  Wan  Li  chose 
to  regard  the  reference  to  his  own  death  as  unlucky, 
and  insolent.  He  ordered  the  memorialist  to  be  beaten 
with  rods  at  the  foot  of  the  throne. 

In  providing  for  the  expenses  of  his  sumptuous 
court,  he  had  the  habit  of  sending  eunuchs  as  his  official 
representatives  into  all  the  provinces,  who  not  only  op- 
pressed the  people  but  exacted  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
legal  taxes  that  the  amount  left  was  not  sufficient  for 
the  provincial  government.  In  the  province  of  Yunnan 
the  oppressed  people  rose  in  fury  against  the  eunuch 
and  not  only  put  him  to  death,  but  burned  his  body. 
The  present  dynasty  of  Manchu-Tartars  has  taken  a 
useful  lesson  from  the  experience  of  the  Mings  and 
made  it  an  invariable  law  that  no  eunuch  shall  exercise 
any  commission  outside  the  palace. 

After  the  first  years  of  his  reign  Wan  Li  seems  to 
have  fallen  into  a  condition  of  hopeless  indolence,  oc- 
cupying his  time  with  wine  and  women  like  another 
Sardanapalus.  In  the  fortieth  year  of  his  reign  one  of 
his  great  ministers  handed  up  a  memorial  to  this  effect : 
"The  treasuries  of  the  provinces  are  empty.  All  enter- 
prises are  at  a  standstill.  The  emperor  withdraws  him- 
self from  his  people;  for  more  than  twenty  years  he 
has  never  called  a  council  of  his  great  ministers.  The 
empire  is  in  danger  of  revolution."  To  this  earnest 
remonstrance  he  gave  no  answer,  but  during  his  few 
remaining  years  he  more  than  once  appeared  in  pub- 
lic and  seemed  to  show  a  desire  to  retrieve  his  lost 
reputation. 


Granary  School  in  Liaochao 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

A   view  in  the    Imperial   Ming   Reservation,    situated    north   of    Peking   in 
the  Metropolitan  Province  of  Chihli 


ft  ±  #t  T  %  *  91 

He  has  mounted  a  tiger  and  cannot  get  down. 

"Forty-fifth  year  in  the  seventh  moon,  eclipse  of  the 
sun."  This  dire  event  seemed  to  presage  a  host  of 
calamities,  for  it  is  added,  "in  the  latter  half  of  the  year 
the  two  capitals,  together  with  the  provinces  of  Honan, 
Shantung,  Shansi,  Shensi,  Kiangsi,  Hupeh  and  Hunan, 
Fokien,  Kwangtung,  just  half  the  empire,  was  re- 
ported as  suffering  from  dire  famine.  During  all  the 
time  an  irregular  warfare  was  kept  up  with  the  Tartars 
who  had  got  possession  of  a  large  portion  of  Man- 
churia, and  we  are  told  that  the  imperial  army,  in- 
cluding the  garrisons  on  the  Great  Wall,  suffered  much 
for  the  want  of  supplies.  The  cabinet  officers  besought 
the  emperor  to  appropriate  the  funds  received  from  the 
provinces  for  his  army  in  that  quarter.  Their  advice 
remained  unheeded.  The  record  adds:  "In  the  ninth 
moon  of  the  next  year,  the  capital  was  shaken  by  an 
earthquake."  The  following  year  brought  to  a  con- 
clusion this  unhappjr  reign,  so  full  of  strange  occur- 
rences, recorded  alongside  the  follies  and  extravagancies 
of  the  court  and  its  officers. 

In  the  midst  of  his  long  period  of  puerilities  we  meet 
with  one  item  of  surpassing  interest.  "This  year  a 
man  from  the  western  ocean,  by  name  Mateo  Ricci, 
begged  permission  to  offer  the  products  of  his  own 
country;  his  request  was  refused!"  That  is,  he  was  not 
permitted  to  come  to  the  northern  capital.  Years  pre- 
viously the  Portuguese  had  found  their  way  around  the 
"Cape  of  Storms"  to  the  coast  of  China.  Xavier,  the 
first  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  after  achieving  triumphs 
in  India  and  Japan  had  been  refused  the  privilege  of 


92  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

setting  foot  on  the  soil  of  China,  and  died  on  a  neigh- 
boring island.  His  successor  in  the  arduous  enterprise 
was  this  Mateo  Ricci  who,  foiled  in  one  attempt  after 
another,  eventually  succeeded  in  finding  his  way  to  the 
secluded  capital  in  the  north.  Here  he  pointed  out  the 
mistakes  of  the  Chinese  astronomers,  won  for  himself  a 
position  at  the  head  of  the  astronomical  board,  and 
secured  for  his  fellow  missionaries  the  opportunity  of 
preaching  the  holy  faith  in  the  provinces  of  the  interior. 
Wan  Li  was  followed  by  two  emperors,  one  of  whom 
occupied  the  throne  for  just  one  month.  The  next,  the 
last  of  the  Mings,  was  Ch'ung  Cheng,  whose  virtues 
stand  out  in  contrast  with  his  weak  and  wicked  prede- 
cessors. Yet  there  was  no  possibility  of  retrieving  the 
fallen  fortunes  of  his  house.  Already  during  the  reign 
of  Wan  Li  the  Tartars  had  occupied  for  a  time  the 
Outer  Wall,  from  which  they  were  dislodged  only  to 
take  up  a  more  commanding  position  in  the  region  of 
Manchuria.  The  provinces  of  the  interior  were  overrun 
by  desperadoes  who  contended  with  each  other  for  a 
throne  which  was  soon  to  be  left  without  an  occupant. 
Li  Tzu-Ch'eng,  one  of  these  rebels,  getting  possession 
of  Peking,  the  emperor  hanged  himself  on  Prospect  Hill 
in  his  garden,  after  having  stabbed  his  favorite  daugh- 
ter to  the  heart  to  prevent  her  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  rebel  chief.  His  general,  in  charge  of  Shanhai- 
kwan,  called  the  Tartars  to  avenge  his  master  and 
expel  the  intruder.  Once  inside  the  Great  Wall,  they 
refused  to  retire  and  from  that  day  the  destinies  of 
China  have  been  united  with  the  fortunes  of  the  Ta 
Ch'ing  dynasty. 


m  &  n  m  m  m  m  h         9s 

Plant  melons  and  you  get  melons,  plant  beans  and 
you  get  beans. 

From  that  day  this  portion  of  the  Wall  has  ceased  to 
be  a  frontier  or  of  much  importance  as  a  defense.  The 
waves  of  invasion  have  come  from  the  sea,  whence  the 
visitants  in  their  causeless  aggressions  have  earned  the 
title  of  ocean  pirates,  which  we  render  all  too  vaguely 
as  foreign  devils.  But  ere  we  take  leave  of  Wan  Li 
and  his  rehabilitation  of  the  Great  Wall,  pause  to  con- 
sider its  long  value  as  a  rampart  of  defense. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Defense  of  the  Great  Wall 

To  describe  the  warlike  use  of  the  Wall  properly,  a 
military  historian  is  needed,  who  can  set  forth  accu- 
rately and  technically  all  the  strategy  involved,  the 
weapons  employed,  the  successes  and  the  tactics.  In 
default  of  him,  a  lay  view  may  help  the  general  reader. 

The  very  conception  of  a  chain  of  thousands  of  strong 
blockhouses,  linked  by  a  rampart,  and  stretching  over 
more  than  a  thousand  miles,  betokens  a  mind  that  can 
conceive  great  measures.  Great  resources  were  needed 
to  execute  the  idea,  and  to  defend  the  Wall  once  erected. 
A  wall  would  need  an  army  of  workmen  to  erect  it,  an 
army  of  soldiers  to  defend  it.  The  trowel  might  be  laid 
aside  in  a  few  months,  the  sword  must  be  ever  ready. 
A  mere  wall  without  men  behind  it,  cannot  delay  an 
invader  for  a  day.  The  Wall  of  China  involved  a  stand- 
ing army. 

Kings  in  other  lands  may  have  surrounded  them- 
selves with  a  few  guards  permanently;  but  only  at  a 
fitting  season  would  they  call  to  arms  the  able-bodied 
men  and  go  out  to  war.  David  had  so  few  guards 
that  he  fled  in  panic  from  his  capital  when  rebellion 
raised  her  head.  The  kings  of  Egypt  put  a  little  wall 
across  the  isthmus  of  Suez,  and  that  necessitated  a  corps 
of  soldiers  to  garrison  it.  But  the  few  hundreds  there 
employed  were  as  nothing  to  the  myriads  needed  along 

94 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by    Dl,    Geil 

The  historic   "Cliff  Tower"  at   Sanholow.  Notice  the  three  distinct   fashions 

of  construction.     Four  thousand   feet  above  the  sea   and  about  300  miles 
from  the  Gulf  of  Chihli 


%  A  %  ±  95 

First  impressions  rule  the  min<l. 

the  Wall  of  China:  this  led  to  a  permanent  army  on  a 
scale  previously  unknown  in  the  world.  China  was  the 
first  nation  to  have  a  Standing  Army,  and  the  historians 
say  it  numbered  3,080,000  men. 

There  are  signs  in  the  brickwork  that  the  towers  were 
designed  and  finished  first,  before  any  wall  was  erected. 
The  order  is  not  wall  and  then  towers  on  it,  but  towers 
and  then  a  curtain  between  them.  In  Cuba  and  in 
South  Africa  there  was  a  stage  when  it  was  found  wise 
to  erect  rows  of  blockhouses  near  enough  to  sweep  the 
ground  in  between  with  bullets,  and  numerous  enough 
to  stretch  for  miles.  The  line  of  Chinese  defense  ap- 
parently began  in  the  same  way;  only  as  they  had  no 
missiles  that  could  be  thrown  far  and  swiftly,  a  solid 
line  of  wall  became  needful,  at  an  early  stage.  We  can 
imagine  that  each  garrison  would  be  charged  to  build  a 
section  of  wall  on  to  meet  the  builders  from  the  next 
forts,  and  thus  the  time  would  not  be  idly  spent  in  mere 
watching. 

But  of  the  early  period  we  have  little  real  informa- 
tion, whereas  we  are  fortunate  in  having  detailed  ac- 
counts of  the  frontier  defenses  in  the  last  period  when 
they  were  important — that  of  the  Ming  dynasty.  The 
Mings  were  the  last  Chinese  who  ruled  over  China;  they 
drove  out  a  line  of  foreigners,  even  as  the  English  drove 
out  the  Scotch  Stuarts.  Then  they  occupied  the  throne 
for  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  years;  and  for  much 
of  the  time  they  had  to  defend  the  empire  against  the 
northern  barbarians,  whom  they  had  expelled,  and  to 
whom  they  at  last  succumbed.    Since  1644  the  Chinese 


96  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

have  been  ruled  again  by  foreigners;  but  the  Mings 
guarded  the  land  against  these  from  the  days  of  Ed- 
ward the  Black  Prince  to  the  days  of  Cromwell.  All 
that  time  the  Great  Wall  was  of  supreme  importance, 
and  the  annals  tell  much  about  it. 

The  policy  was  adopted  of  quartering  huge  perma- 
nent garrisons  in  fortified  camps  behind  the  Wall.    The 
generals  in  command  could  easily  plan  for  detachments 
to  go  on  guard  duty  to  the  forts  for  a  week  or  two  at 
a  time,  and  for  the  guards  to  post  sentries  along  the 
Wall  itself.     The  homes  of  the  soldiers,  however,  were 
not  the  little  forts,  but  the  great  camps  farther  back. 
Then  their  time  was  not  occupied  in  mere  drill  and 
maneuvers;  they  were  set  to  reclaim  the  land  and  to 
till  it.     Inscriptions  point  to  a  system  of  land  grants 
which  acted  as  bounties  to  induce  enlistment.    But  then 
again  these  would  not  avail  to  content  a  recruit  long.    A 
pioneer  into  Alberta  or  Saskatchewan  may  be  tempted 
there  by  the  offer  of  half  a  square  mile,  but  when  he 
has  overcome  the  first  difficulties,  he  wants  a  home,  with 
wife  and  children.     The  Chinese  authorities  recognized 
this,  and  encouraged  the  soldiers  to  marry,  so  that  they 
should  not  wish  to  leave  the  garrisons  and  return  to  the 
older  settled  parts.    And  thus  there  grew  up  a  cordon 
of  married  military  settlers  behind  the  Wall.    Much  the 
same  policy  was  adopted  on  the  Danube  against  the 
Turks ;  Germans  were  encouraged  to  settle  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Hungary,  and  to  marry  so  as  to  stay  for  life 
and  breed  a  hardy  warrior  race.    Indeed,  the  Romans 
had  adopted  the  same  plan  on  their  frontier  garrisons; 


The    Great    Wall     of    China 
Gate    in    the   Great    Wall    at    Kalean 


Photo    by    Henry   J.    Bostwick 


Using  a  small  shrimp  to  catch  a  big  fish. 

not  barracks  of  bachelors,  but  cities  of  martial  married 
men,  were  found  facing  the  barbarians. 

The  modern  policy  of  Europe  is  far  different.  Year 
by  year  thousands  of  young  men  are  called  out  from 
home  and  quartered  in  enormous  lodging-houses  for 
some  three  years,  then  they  go  back  to  civil  life  where 
first  they  settle  down.  In  those  celibate  dormitories  is 
nothing  of  home  comfort,  and  much  of  vice.  The 
Chinese  had  a  nobler  plan,  and  encouraged  a  race  of 
warlike  farmers,  who  labored  with  plow  and  sickle, 
but  took  their  turn  at  shouldering  spear  and  standing 
ready  to  light  the  beacon.  They  needed  little  pay,  but 
supported  themselves  by  their  own  labor;  they  lived  no 
long  time  in  unnatural  separation  from  the  society  of 
women,  but  had  homes  of  their  own  to  humanize  them 
and  to  give  them  their  stake  in  the  land. 

There  was  one  material  resource  they  had,  unknown 
to  their  foes, — gunpowder.  This  they  had  indeed  used 
for  centuries  before  in  firecrackers,  but  had  only  lately 
learned  to  employ  it  for  pro j  ecting  missiles.  Gunpowder, 
invented  by  the  Chinese,  was  used  by  them  for  the 
harmless  pursuits  of  peace,  and  only  after  Christendom 
had  turned  the  blessing  into  a  curse  did  the  inventors 
adopt  it  for  purposes  of  war.  The  artillery  of  previous 
ages  had  been  on  the  bow  principle,  when  springs  or 
weights  threw  arrows  or  stones.  The  Greeks  had 
learned  how  to  use  petroleum  from  Baku,  and  the 
terrors  of  the  Greek  fire  were  widely  spread.  Under 
the  Mings  the  Chinese  employed  gunpowder  to  throw 
stones  or  lumps  of  metal — in  a  word  they  had  guns  and 


98  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

bullets,  and  thus  had  a  great  advantage  over  the  wild 
tribes  of  the  north.  Let  us  now  explore  the  official 
Chinese  history  to  see  how  this  native  dynasty  defended 
its  fatherland. 

"The  descendants  of  the  Yuan  dynasty,  after  being 
driven  out  of  China,  constantly  endeavored  to  regain 
their  lost  dominion.  When  the  capital  was  removed  to 
the  north  by  Yung  Lo,  the  Great  Wall  was  near  to  it 
on  three  sides,  and  from  that  time  the  enemy  became 
day  by  day  more  troublesome.  Therefore,  to  the  end 
of  the  Ming  dynasty,  the  defense  of  the  Great  Wall 
became  a  leading  object.  Beginning  on  the  east  at  the 
Yalu  River  and  extending  westward  to  the  Kiayii- 
kwan,  in  length  three  thousand  miles,  this  long 
line  was  subdivided  between  numerous  garrisons. 
The  first  was  on  the  borders  of  Korea  at  Liaotung.  .  .  . 
Four  others  were  successively  established  extending  to 
Ninghia  in  Kansu.  This  emperor  Yung  Lo  was  es- 
pecially attentive  to  the  defenses  from  Siienhwafu  and 
westward  to  Shansi;  this  reach  extends  over  high  hills 
and  deep  defiles,  where  he  established  watch-towers  and 
guard  houses  connected  together. 

"At  each  transit  pass  capable  of  admitting  carts  and 
horsemen,  guard  posts  of  one  hundred  men  each  were 
established.  At  the  smaller  passes  for  carriers  of  fuel 
and  herdsmen  with  their  flocks,  ten  men.  The  instruc- 
tions given  to  the  general  ran  thus:  'At  each  signal 
station  let  the  towers  be  built  higher  and  stronger ;  with- 
in must  be  laid  up  food,  fuel,  medicine  and  weapons  for 
four  moons.  Beside  the  tower  let  a  well  be  opened, 
inclosed  by  a  wall  as  high  as  the  tower  itself,  presenting 


The  Arsenal  Tower  to  Paishih   K'ou,  White  Stone  Pass,  sixty  H  from 
Futuyeh,  containing  two  interesting  tablets. 


The  Greal  Wsill  of  China 


Photos  by    Dr.    Geil 


Fiitnyeh  Pass,  showing  exceptionally  fine  workmanship.     Note  the  deco- 
rations over  the  doorways. 


HB2iC>  m  A  Z  6  " 

You  may  guess  the  minds  of  others  by  your  own. 

the  appearance  of  a  double  gateway,  inner  and  outer. 
Be  on  your  guard  at  all  times  with  anxious  care.'  Such 
were  the  commands  of  the  emperor." 

Tongking  being  subdued  in  the  south,  the  Chinese 
acquired  common  and  small  arms  called  the  Shen  Ti, 
and  the  emperor  established  an  army  corps  equipped 
with  the  Weapons  of  the  Gods.  To  use  these,  Yung  Lo 
established  a  special  army  corps.  The  cannon  were 
made  of  hard  and  soft  copper  mixed,1  others  of  soft 
iron,  the  latter  preferred.  Some  were  mounted  on 
wheels,  others  rested  on  tripods;  but  on  the  whole,  they 
were  employed  for  defensive  warfare,  and  so  were 
specially  useful  at  the  Wall.  Five  cannon  were  mounted 
on  the  tops  of  certain  mountains,  and  later  on  were 
placed  at  other  points  on  the  Wall. 

Such  great  importance  was  attached  to  these,  that 
their  very  existence  was  long  concealed  from  the  enemy, 
just  as  modern  powers  try  to  keep  secret  their  sub- 
marines or  aeroplanes.  Thus  in  the  fifth  year  of  Hsuan 
Te,  the  general  in  command  of  the  northeast  division 
was  cautioned  to  use  great  discretion  in  employing 
divine  weapons — "They  must  not  be  lightly  given  out." 

Despite  the  new  resources,  the  defensive  works 
needed  renovation  about  1436  a.d.  under  Cheng  T'ung. 
The  censor  Chu  Shun  recommended  repair  of  the  bor- 
der defenses  and  the  general  in  chief  command,  Tan 
Kuang,  advised  that  the  repairs  should  begin  from  the 
Dragon  Gate  and  extend  to  the  Black  Cavern  Pass,  a 
stretch  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  li  in  which  the  work 

'Does  this  mean  bronze,  "hard  copper"  being  tin  from  near  Tongking? 


100  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

was  an  undertaking  of  extreme  difficulty;  reliance 
should  be  put  on  towers  and  forts  rather  than  on  walls 
and  trenches;  the  emperor  agreed  and  authorized  the 
building  of  Purple  City,  forts  and  signal  stations,  a 
total  of  twenty-two  new  stations  on  that  reach.  At 
Ninghai,  General  Shih  Kao  reported  that  all  his  guards 
lay  beyond  the  river,  and  eastward  there  were  no  effect- 
ive works  of  defense  for  some  distance.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  in  the  next  reign  under  Ching  T'ai,  the 
border  troubles  increased,  and  cries  for  support  multi- 
plied. Tartar  chiefs  invaded  the  provinces,  and  there 
was  not  a  peaceful  year. 

In  the  first  year  of  Ch'eng  Hua,  the  general  at  Shui 
K'ow  reported  that  while  to  guard  three  hundred  miles 
he  had  twenty-five  regimental  camps,  yet  each  con- 
tained really  only  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  men. 
Obviously  one  man  cannot  protect  a  hundred  yards  of 
frontier,  night  and  day.  Three  years  later  the  pressure 
became  acute  at  the  western  end,  under  a  chief  named 
Manchuin.  The  troops  succeeded  in  deflecting  him 
northwards,  but  his  people  occupied  what  became  hence- 
forward known  as  Manchuria,  whence  constant  attacks 
were  delivered.  So  Inspector  Yu  Tzu-Chuan  erected 
many  new  forts.  By  the  seventh  year,  however,  the 
Tartars  effected  a  lodgment  within  the  loop  of  the 
river  region,  and  could  not  be  expelled  for  many  years. 
Ch'eng  Hua  rose  to  the  occasion,  raised  a  large  army 
on  the  land-grant  principle,  and  gradually  expelled  the 
Tartars  from  the  River  Loop,  then  establishing  military- 
agricultural  colonies  along  the  northwestern  frontier, 
and  protecting  it  by  a  new  wall.    Further,  he  threw  out 


- 
is   5 


%  m  *s  a  z  &  101 

Heaven  never  cuts  off  a  man's  way. 

a  new  Hami  garrison  beyond  the  end  of  the  Wall,  pro- 
viding it  liberally  with  fields,  cows,  and  seed  grain.  We 
find,  too,  that  he  reformed  the  old  practice  of  impress- 
ing horses  for  the  cavalry,  and  paid  fair  prices,  thus 
conciliating  the  farmers,  while  the  soldiery  was  con- 
stantly drilled,  even  in  wind  and  rain. 

Under  Chia  Ching  a  further  advance  was  made,  and 
detached  forts  were  thrown  up  outside  the  Wall,  while 
large  numbers  of  cannon  were  cast:  at  first  these  were 
known  as  Ta  Chiang  Chun,  Great  Generals;  but  they 
became  known  more  popularly  as  Fo  Lang  Ch'i,  For- 
eign Weapons.  This  was  the  time  when  Europeans  first 
found  their  way  to  China  by  sea,  and  when  their  ships 
introduced  to  the  Chinese  the  improved  western 
ordnance. 

In  the  reign  of  Hung  Chih,  twenty-fourth  year, 
Censor  Ch'en  Hao  reported  that  the  enemy  had  thrice 
invaded  Shansi,  and  that  a  million  soldiers  had  perished, 
while  six  hundred  millions  of  taels  had  been  spent,  with- 
out "one  inch  of  benefit."  He  advised  an  enormous 
levy  and  a  decisive  battle  to  regain  the  River  Loop. 

This  was  apparently  the  time  when  the  defenses  along 
the  Great  Wall  were  most  fully  developed.  The  fron- 
tier must  then  have  been  protected  by  fully  twenty 
thousand  forts,  with  some  ten  thousand  signal  towers 
where  solitary  sentries  watched  for  the  approach  of  any 
foe.  Such  a  line  of  buildings  might  well  amaze  the 
wild  horsemen  of  the  plains. 

In  the  reign  of  Wan  Li,  troubles  became  acute  again. 
The  Tartar  chief  An-hua  pierced  the  Wall  at  Kupeikow 


102 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


and  invaded  Chihli,  the  generals  not  daring  to  give 
battle,  and  his  ravages  were  repeated  in  successive 
years.     Fresh  artillery  was  cast,   and  the   arrival  of 


Headless— fought  with  the  gods,  who,  because  of  its  impudence,  cut  oflf  its 
head  and  buried  it  in  a  mountain.  Drills  with  hatchet  and  shield.  Breasts 
are  his  eyes.    Naval  is  his  mouth.    Dangerous. 

Portuguese  ships  gave  them  cannon  of  unusual  size, 
which  were  called  after  the  foreigners,  Red  Heads. 
These  were  twenty  feet  long,  weighing  three  thousand 
catties,  the  balls  being  able  to  batter  down  city  walls. 


ri 


'•^fi 


£    2 


-t  m  #  iE  m  m  &         "» 

When  the  top  beam  is  not  level,  the  lower  ones  are 
lopsided. 

So  much  valued  were  these,  that  a  later  emperor 
gazetted  them  as  Great  Generals,  and  sent  officers  to 
pay  them  divine  honors. 

These  were  supplemented  by  more  handy  weapons, 
all  with  quaint  titles:  Flying  Thunder,  Fiery  Wild 
Beast,  Divine  Mortar,  Horse  Killers,  Invincible  Hand 
Guns,  Goose  Bills,  Seven  Eyes — was  this  a  revolver  or 
Hotchkiss? — One  Thousand-/^  Guns,  Double  Headed, 
Quick  Firers,  Fire  Wheels,  Nine  Dragons,  etc.  These 
are  nearly  as  curious  as  Drake,  Culverin  and  other 
western  names. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  Jesuits,  the  emperor  obtained 
men  of  culture  and  science;  he  therefore  employed  them 
to  found  cannon,  and  western  artillery  was  soon 
mounted  along  the  Wall.  Yet  the  Chinese  had  no 
trained  artillery  men,  and  the  results  were  not  very 
successful.  More  to  the  point  was  a  very  old  device: 
the  iron  chariots  long  employed  for  transport  were  now 
converted  into  military  machines  and  driven  against  the 
foe  with  terrible  success.1 

Nevertheless,  the  pressure  from  without  was  con- 
stant, and  the  generals  gradually  neglected  the  line  of 
the  Wall,  professedly  concentrating  on  protecting  the 
Imperial  Tombs  and  the  gates  of  the  capital.  That  the 
Wall  was  held,  was  due,  the  history  says,  rather  to  good 
luck  than  to  valor.  When  the  Chinese  themselves  rose 
in  rebellion  in  many  parts,  a  Manchu  chief  easily  es- 
tablished himself  within  the  empire.    One  band  of  rebels 

1  Fighting  chariots  had  been  commonly  used  under  the  Chou  dynasty, 
long  before  Chin  Shih  Huang's  time.     But  they  suddenly  went  out  of  use. 


104  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

sacked  the  capital,  whereupon  the  emperor  slew  his 
daughter  and  himself.  After  a  period  of  chaos,  the 
Manchus  declared  themselves  emperors,  and  made  good 
their  claim.  From  that  moment  little  reason  remained 
for  defending  the  Wall ;  the  northern  invaders  ruled  on 
both  sides ;  and  it  became  a  relic  of  the  past  for  most  of 
its  length.  Only  at  the  west,  where  the  wild  Turcomans 
of  the  desert  ranged  abroad,  regardless  of  kin,  with 
their  brethren  who  had  conquered  the  Land  of  Promise, 
was  it  needful  to  keep  up  garrisons  and  maintain  the 
Barrier  in  good  repair.  But  since  the  might  of  Russia 
has  restrained  these  nomads,  the  whole  problem  of  de- 
fense has  been  utterly  altered;  and  China  at  present  is 
preparing  first  to  assert  her  supremacy  in  the  East  by 
a  Mongol-Monroe  doctrine;  then  perhaps  to  terrify 
Europe  into  erecting  a  Great  Wall  to  shut  off  the  men- 
acing myriads  of  the  yellow  race. 

Here,  then,  we  have  had  a  glance  at  the  military  effi- 
ciency of  the  Great  Wall  in  its  last  and  palmiest  days. 
Though  it  may  have  fallen  into  disuse  of  late,  there  is 
here  one  of  the  oldest  stretches  along  the  line  of  the 
original  feudal  state  of  Ch'in — the  Savoy,  whence  grew 
up  the  united  Italy  of  China.  Let  us  now  traverse  this 
section — the  Loess  Loop  in  the  midlands. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Loess  or  River  Loop,  in  Oldest  China 
Land  of  Legend  and  of  Dry  Fog 

The  Hwang  ho  is  the  second  most  important  river  in 
the  land,  and  is  popularly  styled  "China's  Sorrow";  the 
reason  for  which  soon  developed  itself.  Hardly  were 
we  across  its  uncertain  flow,  before  we  found  the  land- 
scape obscured  by  a  dry  fog,  enveloping  the  whole  re- 
gion.1 When  this  settles,  it  does  not  coat  hedges  and 
herbage  with  refreshing  moisture,  such  as  makes  Ireland 
an  emerald  isle,  but  with  a  "ginger  powder,"  as  the 
Chinese  call  the  yellow  dust,  ground  to  the  tiniest  par- 
ticles by  the  wind.  So  fine  is  it,  that  it  will  sift  through 
the  veriest  cracks,  even  into  the  protected  portion  of 
cameras,  dry-fogging  the  plates,  or  also  into  the  deli- 
cate adjustments  of  the  scientific  instruments.  The 
dry  fog  produces  a  dull  twilight,  like  the  light  on  the 
planet  Neptune, — a  dim  and  dreary  world.  This  dust 
has  created  the  fertility  of  northern  China,  and  has  con- 
verted the  Hwang  ho  into  its  scourge. 

Transportation  of  dust  hy  the  wind  is  no  specially 
Chinese  method.  When  Vesuvius  first  burst  again  into 
activity,  the  dust  transported  by  the  wind  sufficed  to 
bury  Pompeii.    On  the  uplands  of  the  Andes  there  are 

1  Changkai,  who  lived  about  a.d.  100,  studied  magic  and  managed  to 
raise  a  fog  seven  li  in  diameter,  for  which  uncanny  performance  the  emperor 
threw  him  into  prison. 

105 


106  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

large  mounds  of  sand  which  are  being  slowly  but  stead- 
ily blown  across  country  by  the  prevailing  winds,  and 
which  assume  the  form  of  crescents.  On  a  far  smaller 
scale,  every  resident  near  a  low  sandy  coast  knows  how 
the  dunes  are  formed  by  the  sea  breeze  blowing  the  sand 
inland.  Now  the  center  of  Asia  has  inexhaustible  sup- 
plies of  sand  and  dry  earth,  where  there  is  no  moisture 
to  cement  it  into  a  hard  surface.  It  also  has  a  large 
supply  of  wind,  which  appears  to  come  down  in  the 
middle  of  the  continent  like  a  colossal  down  draft  in 
the  middle  of  a  big  public  hall.  It  was  some  of  this 
dust-laden  wind  that  greeted  us  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Hwang  ho ;  water  acts  on  dry  fog  as  on  witches,  and 
stops  its  going  farther.  But  as  the  wind  drops,  so  does 
some  of  the  dust  it  conveys,  and  so  the  rocky  soil  gets 
coated  over  with  dust  from  afar.  This  process  has 
gone  on  for  a  few  millenniums,  and  the  result  is  that  the 
yellow  dust  is  occasionally  a  thousand  feet  deep.  It 
has  embedded  all  sorts  of  decaying  vegetation,  and 
common  sense  would  suggest  that  it  must  have  em- 
bedded villages  and  even  men  now  and  again  in  a  raging 
dust  storm.1  But  while  the  Sahara,  also  swept  by  dust- 
laden  winds,  gets  no  rain  and  remains  sandy,  northern 
China  gets  plenty,  and  the  rain  not  only  lays  the  dry 
fog  but  hardens  it  into  earth  again.  Thus  the  whole 
of  North  China,  and  far  as  the  Hwang  ho,  is  covered 
deep  with  yellow  earth,  or  Huang-t'u,  as  the  natives 

1  "I  saw  a  dust-storm  at  Kueichow  which  lasted  for  seven  hours,  burying 
some  hovels  and  much  agricultural  country,  and  even  producing  a  meta- 
morphosis of  the  rocky  bed  of  the  Yangtze."  Bird  Bishop  in  The  Yangtze 
Valley  and  Beyond,  John  Murray,  London. 


«>.* 


m 


ie    Great    Wall    of    Chins 


Photos    by    Dr.    Gteil 

Two  views  of  ruins  of  the  Greal  Wall  at  Shiching,  Twenty  li  from  Ging- 
pien,  in  the  Ordos  Country.  The  lower  picture  shows  a  house  built 
into  the  Wall 


ft  #  k  m  &  m  p  107 

Mischief  all  comes  of  much  opening  of  the  mouth. 

call  it,  though  the  Germans  have  taught  the  Western 
world  to  call  it  loess. 

Now,  for  agricultural  processes,  three  things  are 
needed  by  the  farmer;  seed,  fertile  soil,  water.  The 
soil  spreads  thickly  over  the  surface,  is  fertile,  and 
as  it  is  being  constantly  renewed  by  a  top  dressing 
brought  by  the  wind,  it  is  constantly  fertile.  The  water 
question  is  entirely  separate  in  China,  whereas  in 
Egypt  the  annual  top  dressing  is  brought  from 
Abyssinia  by  the  Nile  water,  and  is  spread  in  fluid  form 
with  very  little  trouble  to  the  farmer.  In  China  the 
water  is  furnished  by  another  department  of  nature, 
the  clouds.  When  these  work  regularly,  the  soil  is 
moistened,  and  the  crops  are  amazingly  prolific.  So 
much  is  this  the  case  that  this  district  was  settled  early, 
and  is  the  very  oldest  part  of  China.  Indeed,  because 
its  prince  was  the  Lord  of  the  Yellow  Earth,  he  took  the 
title,  Ruler  of  the  Yellow,  Huang  Ti.  And  this  re- 
mains one  of  the  imperial  titles  to  the  present  day. 

Now  comes  in  the  Hwang  ho.  This  river,  having 
started  from  the  Sea  of  Stars  and  wandered  about  in 
the  north,  comes  on  to  a  soil  of  this  mere  dusty  forma- 
tion. Of  course  it  cuts  through  it  easily  and  leaves  the 
banks  nearly  vertical,  as  often  happens  in  sandy  forma- 
tions. But  it  takes  up  an  enormous  amount  of  the  soil 
it  displaces,  and  flows  on,  charged  with  yellow  mud,  like 
the  Nile,  the  Mississippi,  the  Po.  As  the  slope  to  the 
ocean  is  very  slight,  this  mud  always  tends  to  settle,  and 
raise  the  bed.  In  much  of  the  lower  course,  the  bottom 
of  the  bed  is  above  the  level  of  the  country  around,  and 


108  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

the  banks  have  to  be  built  up  with  millet  stalks  to  con- 
fine the  water.  This  is  a  difficulty  with  all  rivers  of  this 
kind,  but  the  floods  caused  by  the  Po,  or  even  by  the 
levees  of  the  Mississippi  bursting,  pale  into  insignifi- 
cance alongside  those  caused  by  the  Hwang  ho.  To 
say  nothing  of  frequent  minor  floods,  it  has  changed 
its  course  ten  times  within  the  period  of  history,  and 
debouched  into  the  ocean  at  many  points  separated  by 
three  hundred  miles.  Even  to  the  end  of  its  course  it 
retains  enough  mud  to  discolor  the  ocean,  which  on  the 
coast  is  therefore  called  the  Yellow  Sea.  As  it  is  silting 
up  the  gulf  of  Chihli,  and  has  a  bar  of  mud  across 
it  some  eight  miles  up,  another  huge  burst  is  quite 
imminent.  A  few  Dutch  engineers,  familiar  with  the 
problem  of  rivers  flowing  much  above  the  land  level, 
might  manage  to  avert  the  calamity,  but  the  native 
engineers  prefer  to  pocket  the  appropriations,  not  to 
dredge,  nor  pump  from  without,  but  merely  tinker  with 
the  banks. 

Since  beginning  the  third  section  of  the  journey  along 
the  Wall  the  mountains  have  yielded  the  landscape  to  a 
great  elevated  plain  where  for  miles  and  miles  the 
boundary  may  be  seen  stretching  off  in  graceful  curves 
toward  the  west. 

The  plateau  is  intersected  by  numerous  canyons  with 
vertical  sides,  cleft  down  by  rivulets  or  rivers.  On  a 
small  scale  the  same  phenomenon  is  seen  in  the  Blue 
Mountains  of  Australia.  For  scores  of  years  these 
barred  all  access  to  the  interior,  though  low  level  can- 
yons wound  in,  and  then  terminated  abruptly  where 
streams  plunge  headlong  down  hundreds  of  feet.    But 


<   ^ 


o 


o     >, 


-fWPlftlfi  109 

A  word  once  spoken  the  fleetest  horse  cannot  over- 
take it. 

the  Australian  mountains  are  of  hard  rock,  while  the 
Chinese  plateau  is  simply  compressed  dust.  Occa- 
sionally the  sides  of  the  canyons  are  in  long  terraces, 
corresponding  to  various  heights  of  the  watercourses. 
Into  the  faces  of  these  the  villagers  dig,  and  get  ex- 
cellent cave  dwellings,  while  stairs  are  easily  carved 
from  one  level  to  another. 

An  instance  of  the  water  difficulty  we  found  at  a 
hamlet  called  the  Wolf  Sleeping  Ravine.  This  is  on 
the  side  of  a  hill  four  miles  from  Chingpien  Hsien. 
The  villagers  depend  on  a  well  more  than  live  hundred 
feet  deep,  and  are  not  too  fond  of  drawing  water  from 
its  cool  recesses.  "Mr.  Vermilion,"  for  all  the  people 
here  belong  to  the  Chu  or  Vermilion  family,  "will  your 
honor  be  so  gracious  as  to  deign  to  bestow  a  drop  of 
water  on  your  insignificant  visitor?"  In  a  general  way 
this  would  gain  a  quick  response,  but  here  it  depends 
which  day  the  request  is  proffered.  The  villagers  will 
hand  out  food  readily,  but  the  water  is  only  drawn 
every  three  or  five  days,  and  if  supplies  on  the  surface 
are  running  low,  they  will  not  anticipate  the  regular 
day  for  a  chance  traveler. 

In  districts  of  this  kind,  where  water  is  scarce  and 
sand  or  loess  is  plentiful,  the  builders  of  the  Great 
Wall  had  quite  new  problems  to  encounter.  Where 
should  they  build,  what  sort  of  foundation  could  they 
secure,  what  sort  of  rampart  should  they  erect?  The 
engineers  traced  a  line  from  the  river  to  the  river  again, 
like  an  inverted  bow,  and  strangely  enough,  unlike  the 
engineers   farther  east,  on  the  line  of  least  natural 


110  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

resistance.  Finding  that  the  dust  drifted  against  it 
and  sloped  up  on  the  desert  side,  they  laid  out  a  second 
wall  behind,  and  in  very  wind-swept  stretches  even  a 
third.1  Not  only  so,  but  they  sunk  a  moat,  its  width 
and  depth  being  equal  to  the  height  and  width  of  the 
wall,  walling  it  on  sides  and  bottom  to  try  to  make  it 
water-tight.  Having  thus  settled  their  direction,  they 
built  sometimes  on  the  style  prevalent  in  the  East,  but 
more  often  by  scarping  the  natural  formation.  The 
fabric  was  either  erected  or  cut  out.  For  long  stretches 
the  natural  state  of  the  loess  formation  admitted  of  its 
being  hewn  down  in  the  shape  of  a  wall.  They  split 
the  soil  down  vertically,  and  then  veneered  over  with 
brick  or  stone.  If  the  levels  were  not  convenient  for 
this,  a  wooden  framework  was  erected,  soil  excavated 
from  the  moat,  watered  and  rammed  into  the  casing, 
which  was  presently  removed  and  set  up  farther  on, 
for  another  filling,  while  the  rammed  earth  was  cased 
with  brick  to  protect  it  from  the  weather.  This  style 
of  building  is  still  practical  in  these  parts.  It  has  been 
sneeringly  said  that  the  Wall  in  Shensi  and  Kansu  is 
only  a  heap  of  hard  mud;  but  if  mud  will  do  to  keep 
people  out,  why  not  use  it?  Earthworks  were  often 
good  enough  for  the  Romans  and  are  often  good 
enough  for  European  and  American  fortresses.  Even 
now,  after  long  neglect,  when  our  men  measured  the 
ruins,  the  remains  were  found  in  many  places  over 
fifteen  feet  high,  nearly  fifteen  feet  thick,  with  towers 
thirty-five  feet  square  at  the  base  and  rising  thirty  feet. 

1  These  three  walls  should  not  he  confused  with  the  walls  built  by  the 
three  dynasties,  Chin,  Sung  and  Ming.  The  ramparts  erected  by  the 
Chin  and  Sung  dynasties  have  disappeared. 


Loess    Cone    of    a    Great    Wall    Tower.      The    brick    veneering    has    wholly 
disappeared 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    l>r.    GeU 

The    Ruins    of    the    Last     Tower    in    the    Great    Wall 


Fish  see  the  bait,  but  not  the  hook ;  men  see  the 
profit,  but  not  the  peril. 

This  would  be  awkward  to  climb  over  at  any  time,  but 
when  men  are  waiting  on  them  with  something  humor- 
ous, like  boiling  oil,  for  a  welcome,  they  would  seem  to 
furnish  a  good  defense. 

The  action  of  the  rain  had  been  rather  exciting  just 
before  our  arrival.  Two  days  before  we  reached  Ning- 
tiao-Liang,  enough  fell  to  sweep  away  a  large  flock  of 
sheep  with  the  shepherds.  Just  west  of  the  Level 
Village  of  the  Li  family,  the  innkeeper  tried  to  detain 
us  with  tales  of  the  sudden  rises;  but  we  took  these  to 
be  of  the  Lie  family.  When  we  reached  the  brink  of 
the  flood,  the  usually  quiet  stream  was  a  wild  tempestu- 
ous rush  of  whirls.  On  the  shore  we  tarried  to  await  the 
subsidence  of  the  waters,  and  after  half  an  hour  a 
native  waded  over.  Him  we  at  once  engaged  to  lead 
our  mountain  mules  over  the  ford,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  whole  caravan  was  safely  over.  Not  too  soon; 
swirling  down  the  narrow  channel  between  the  steep 
rocks,  came  a  fresh  volume  of  water  quite  four  feet 
high,  sweeping  everything  before  it.  To  note  that, 
despite  such  torrents,  the  line  of  the  Great  Wall  lies 
high  and  distinct,  is  to  conceive  great  admiration  for 
the  engineers  who  planned  and  built  so  well. 

Here  the  top  dressing  of  dust  was  thin,  and  we  saw 
the  bare  rock ;  but  southeast  of  Ching  Hsien  we  found 
a  mountain  called  the  Wut'ai  Ao,  the  Five-terraced 
Rambling  Hill.  Only  a  few  families  inhabit  it,  for  the 
loess  is  here  a  thousand  feet  thick,  and  will  not  retain 
water.  Going  down  the  hill  to  fetch  a  pail  of  water 
does  not  commend  itself  to  Chinese  Jacks  and  Jills 


112  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

when  the  distance  is  some  miles;  so  they  prepare  cis- 
terns. On  the  hardest  parts  of  the  slope  they  dig  pits 
scores  of  feet  wide  and  deep,  and  ram  the  exposed 
surface  to  try  to  make  it  water-tight.  Trenches  are 
arranged  to  lead  as  much  water  as  possible  into  the 
cisterns.  But  they  have  a  prejudice  against  mere  sur- 
face water,  and  to  clarify  it  they  collect  all  the  manure 
of  cattle,  sheep,  and  pigs,  which  they  blend  with  the 
contents.  When  well  brewed,  it  is  used  for  drinking, 
and  has  a  smooth  oily  flavor  as  if  a  decoction  of  hemp. 

Here  and  there  we  found  rock  underlying  the  soil. 
The  bed  rock  is  mostly  sandstone,  sometimes  a  gray 
shale  that  is  black  when  newly  fractured.  Hard  sand 
varying  to  soft  sandstone  is  found.  Conglomerate 
occurs.  The  wild  vegetation  is  not  plentiful,  nor  varied. 
The  willow  tree  is  the  only  common  one.  Indeed  Yu- 
linfu  literally  means  "elm  wood  prefecture,"  but  elms 
are  certainly  not  the  commonest  trees.  That  name  must 
have  been  given  when  the  country  was  different,  i.e. 
before  the  Ordos  desert  had  covered  up  so  much  of  the 
land.  Willows  alone  can  stand  the  sand  well.  Grass 
grows  well,  with  bushy  juniper  and  scrub-like  Ameri- 
can sage  brush;  the  natives  can  get  fuel  out  of  this,  but 
no  timber.  Yet  the  Ordes  plant  gardens  and  find  that 
when  tended  they  will  yield  well.  No  afforestation  is 
done,  though  it  might  be  thought  the  deep  roots  of  trees 
would  get  nutriment  when  the  surface  is  bare,  while  the 
foliage  might  attract  more  rain  and  keep  it  from  dash- 
ing away  in  devastating  torrents. 

With  the  flora  thus  scanty,  the  fauna  are  not  numer- 
ous.    Rodents  are  well  represented:  the  kangaroo  rat 


Desert   Hamster 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
"Kangaroo  Hat."     .Terbou 


Drawings  by   A.  deC.   Sowerby.    M.A. 


Every  sect  has  its  truth  and  every  truth  its  sect. 

or  jerboa  suggests  by  its  appearance  that  it  is  an  evolu- 
tion due  to  the  appearance  of  the  Wall :  a  high  obstacle 
demands  high  jumping  powers,  and  only  those  rats 
which  developed  kangaroo-like  legs  could  survive.  Our 
scientific  friend,  Mr.  Arthur  de  C.  Sowerby,  possesses 
several  specimens  of  these  "compensated  rats" — indeed, 
he  is  the  discoverer  of  the  Dipus  Sowerhyi.  Another 
local  curiosity  is  the  dwarf  desert  hamster.  This  has 
not  long  legs,  and  so  has  to  ascend  the  Wall  by  degrees : 
as  the  Wall  is  not  well  stocked  with  vegetables,  the 
thrifty  hamster  has  developed  two  pouches  in  his  cheeks 
to  carry  his  lunch  for  the  expedition,  usually  in  the  form 
of  millet  or  small  seeds.  The  "sage  brush"  found 
among  the  sand  hills  is  very  valuable,  for  the  seeds  from 
this  plant  form  the  staple  diet  of  our  little  four-footed 
friends, — desert  hamster,  meriones,  jerboa.  Birds  be- 
longing to  the  finch  family  also  depend  upon  these 
seeds  for  their  daily  food. 

In  this  region  are  to  be  found  five  other  animals 
which  carry  lunch  in  their  cheeks,  whether  in  imitation 
of  the  desert  hamster,  or  to  compete  with  it  in  climbing 
the  Great  Wall,  these  curious  and  most  interesting 
little  creatures — mammalites — are  silent.  Their  names 
deserve  advertisement  in  a  book  on  the  mammoth 
masonry  of  Chin:  striped  hamster,  common  hamster, 
David's  squirrel  (Scuris  Davidi),  chipmunk,  and  mi- 
cromys  (speciosus  which  has  very  small  pouches). 

The  natives  here  in  oldest  China  speak  of  wild  pigs, 
but  these  did  not  present  themselves  to  us.  Antelopes 
by  the  score  were  often  seen  pasturing  on  the  ramps  of 


114  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

the  Wall.  As  for  birds,  they  abounded,  the  magpie  be- 
ing peculiarly  in  evidence.  Among  the  birds  seen  may 
be  mentioned  the  red-tailed  thrush,  crested  lark,  plovers, 
geese,  ducks,  cranes,  doves,  swallows,  wagtails,  fly- 
catchers, wild  pigeons,  and  sacred  cranes. 

As  for  snakes,  the  traveler  meets  at  Yulin  two  kinds : 
a  brown  one,  the  other  a  vivid  green,  with  a  row  of  bright 
red  patches  on  either  side  of  the  neck  getting  smaller 
and  smaller  until  they  disappear  near  the  tail.  There 
are  also  two  species  of  lizards,  one  of  which  is  found 
pretty  generally  over  the  whole  of  north  China;  the 
other  is  found  only  in  the  Ordos,  and  is  purely  a  sand 
inhabiting  reptile.  There  is  a  species  of  toad  prettily 
marked  which  inhabits  the  sand  hills,  while  at  least  two 
species  of  frog  are  to  be  found  in  the  streams  near 
Yulin,  in  which  water  are  also  at  least  four  species  of 
fish. 

Insects  are  plentiful,  especially  beetles.  We  have 
often  observed  their  antics  with  interest.  There  are 
four  black  varieties  which  infest  the  sand.  Their 
nightly  wanderings  leave  a  network  of  pretty  chains — 
their  tracks — all  over  the  sand  hills.  These  beetles  form 
the  sole  diet  of  the  hedgehog  and  this  prickly  fellow 
seems  to  thrive  on  the  hard-shelled  creatures,  for  he 
is  laden  with  fat  and  is  most  unpleasant  to  skin. 

The  most  remarkable  product  of  this  district  in  this 
line  is  the  Chinese  pigmies,  or  hairy  wild  men.  We 
heard  rumors  of  a  wild  and  uncivilized  people  living  to 
the  south  in  mountain  forests, — a  sort  of  forgotten 
people,  who  in  turn  had  forgotten  the  ways  of  the  civil- 
ized.    Unable  to  investigate  in  person  these  dwarfs, 


The    Greal     Wall    of    China  Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 

A    Chinese  "Pigmy"   or    Dwarf  and   a  Giant   near  the  Great   Wall   east  of 
Yenkingchow 


It  is  easy  to  avoid  a  naked  spear,  but  not  a  hidden 
sword. 

hairy  and  naked,  as  the  story  ran,  we  wrote  to  Philip 
Nelson,  Esquire,  and  received  this  reply:  "When  living 
northeast  of  Pinchow,  four  hundred  and  fifty  li,  bird's 
way,  I  heard  much  about  this  wild  people,  who  are  as 
wild  as  wild  can  be.  They  have  been  uncivilized  since 
the  building  of  the  Great  Wall.  They  were  badly 
treated,  and  being  unable  or  unwilling  to  do  the  work 
set  for  them  each  day,  numbers  were  thrown  into  the 
Wall  and  beaten  down  like  earth.  Unable  to  stand  this 
treatment,  some  escaped  to  the  woods,  where  they  have 
ever  since  been.  Only  a  few  are  left.  I  am  told  they 
do  not  wear  clothes  and  are  grown  over  the  whole  body 
with  hair  like  wolves.  Smaller  than  the  common  run  of 
people,  they  are  shy  and  run  when  anybody  approaches 
them.  There  are  also  dwarfs  living  near  here;  I 
saw  a  married  woman  three  feet  tall."  Having  seen 
the  pure  pigmies  in  our  explorations  in  the  Forest  of 
the  Eternal  Twilight  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  we  had  a 
great  desire  to  visit  the  yellow  pigmies,  and  hope  to 
later.1 

While  forced  labor  did  not  wreck  the  reason  of  the 
laborers  who  piled  up  the  pyramids,  or  of  the  Hebrews 
who  worked  for  Pharaoh,  or  of  the  Israelites  who  slaved 
for  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  of  the  Jews  who  toiled  at  the 
Colosseum,  doubtless  there  was  terrible  suffering  when 
these  vast  fabrics  were  erected;  the  indignant  workmen 
must  have  revolted  under  the  lash,  some  may  have  lost 
their  reason,  others  have  broken  away  into  the  forest  or 
into  the  desert.    We  have  no  doubt  that  men  fled  from 

1  See  A   Yankee  in  Pigmy  Land,  by  Dr.  William  Edgar  Geil. 


116  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

the  hard,  harassing  labor  on  the  rampart  that  grew  like 
a  rampired  rock  and,  caught  where  they  dare  not 
emerge,  there  was  this  left — to  live  the  life  of  vultures 
and  night-nurtured  vipers  that  eat  in  ambush.  That 
habit  still  holds  them!1 

The  following  from  the  Manchester  Evening  News 
seems  too  good  to  omit:  "A  Lesson  to  'Work  Shys.'  An 
instructive  moral  may  be  drawn  from  the  discovery  of 
a  pigmy  race  in  central  China  by  Dr.  William  Edgar 
Geil,  The  ancestors  of  the  pigmies,  Dr.  Geil  declares, 
fled  to  the  mountains  to  escape  the  curse  of  labor  in 
the  shape  of  assisting  in  the  task  of  building  the  Great 
Wall  of  China.  Whether  or  not  they  were  justified  in 
acting  thus  does  not  concern  us  now,  but  the  fact  re- 
mains that  the  present  representatives  of  the  race  have 
degenerated  into  hairy  pigmies,  living  in  a  state  of 
savagery.  This  awful  example  should  be  a  warning 
to  those  people  in  civilized  communities  who,  blindly 
refusing  to  recognize  the  blessings  of  labor,  pine  for  a 
life  of  ease  and  idleness!" 

Revenons  a  nos  moutons — to  first-hand  observation. 
As  a  sample  village  let  into  the  perpendicular  loess, 
take  Wanyin  Chien.  Our  party  contains  not  only  pale 
faces,  but  some  yellow  servants,  a  girl-faced  boy,  and 
a  "Black  Dog."  The  last  mentioned  kept  a  diary,  and 
an  extract  may  be  welcome:  "After  passing  through  a 
town  there  was  the  Yellow  River.    We  went  ahead  to 

1  "Sang  Wei  Han,  who  lived  946  a.d.,  was  a  great  minister  but  very  short 
of  stature;  indeed,  he  was  a  dwarf.  On  one  occasion  he  stood  in  front  of 
a  mirror  and  said,  'One  foot  of  face  is  worth  seven  of  body.'  .  .  .  He 
had  a  long  beard  and  was  so  fiercely  ugly  that  the  'sight  of  him  made 
people  sweat  even  in  midwinter!'" 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
Black    Dog  and   the  girl-faced  Quin 


Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 


A  5E  1m  &  £  £  li  #n  B  #        »< 

A  dead  man  is  terrible  as  a  tiger,  a  dead  tiger  harm- 
less as  a  lamb. 

cross  the  river.  When  on  a  high  bank  we  could  see  a 
dead  man  lying  in  the  water.  The  corpse  faced  up- 
ward, and  stopped  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock  where  it  bobbed 
up  and  down  with  the  motion  of  the  water.  The  body 
looked  as  if  it  had  been  blown  up  with  the  wind.  Truly, 
truly  hard  to  look  at  also.  .  .  . 

"We  went  forward  to  every  hamlet  and  village  just 
at  the  time  the  wheat  was  ripe  and  in  full  ear,  until  we 
came  to  Wanyin  Chien  and  stopped;  and  directly  it 
was  the  Sabbath.  Before  we  arrived  here  it  was  one 
piece  of  sand  hill  land.  If  the  wind  rose  big,  the  roads 
were  hard  to  find.  The  original  men  of  the  place  plant 
a  tree  for  a  sign.  Wanyin  Chien  is  near  the  Long 
Wall.  The  towers,  which  although  ruined  somewhat, 
are  not  much  destroyed ;  every  li  they  are  arranged  one 
seat  after  one  seat.  We  had  worship  on  the  side  of  the 
hill.  The  name  of  the  inn  was  the  Ten  Thousand  Flour- 
ishing Inn.  The  men-mouths  of  the  Inn-Lord  were 
very  many  and  the  place  fiercely  dirty,  so  we  all  slept 
on  the  roof  of  the  mule  house.  When  the  Sabbath  was 
past  on  the  next  day,  we  arose  on  our  journey.  ...  I 
asked  the  governor  of  the  inn  about  the  Long  Wall. 
He  made  answer,  'Chin  Shih  Huang  without  doctrine 
compelled  the  people  to  build  it.  He  walked  his  horse 
and  examined  the  boundary.  Afterwards  there  was  the 
husband  of  the  Meng  Chiang  woman.  Because  he  was 
building  the  Wall,  he  was  compelled  to  die  in  it.  The 
Meng  Chiang  woman,  weeping  for  her  husband,  moved 
heaven  and  earth.  The  ten  thousand  li  Long  Wall 
with  one  cry,  was  wept  down.'    These  words  are  with- 


118  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

out  evidence."  This  final  comment  of  the  Black  Dog 
will  win  approval. 

In  this  village,  untouched  by  civilization,  ignorant  of 
camera,  where  a  photograph  of  a  beautiful  young  lady 
affrighted  the  beholders,  many  interesting  legends  about 
the  Wall  were  gathered.  Chin,  borne  triumphantly 
across  the  empire  on  his  horse  of  cloud,  stamped 
thrice  every  li,  and  on  each  crushed  spot  sprang 
up  a  tower.  And  to  this  day,  instead  of  the  expression, 
"do  it  quickly,"  one  hears  "do  it  on  horseback."  Chin 
was  a  broken,  bad,  rotten  man.  The  wall  was  erected 
in  one  day,  being  eighty  thousand  li  long.  It  was 
ruined  when  one  woman  gave  a  scream,  and  it  collapsed 
from  the  sea  to  Tibet.  There  were  eighteen  suns  when 
Chin  built;  the  men  were  kept  working  so  long  that 
grass  had  time  to  grow  in  the  dust  which  lodged  on 
their  heads.  The  men  worked  so  long  that  they  fell 
asleep  and  were  buried;  when  they  awoke  they  were 
ancestors.  Chin  had  mammoth  shovels  that  threw  up  a 
li  of  wall  at  a  scoop ;  the  men  were  twelve  feet  tall  and 
broad  in  proportion ;  nowadays  men  are  small  and  could 
not  build  the  Wall. 

John  Gwadey,  Esquire,  furnished  us  the  popular 
version  of  the  ancient  legend  of  the  wonderful  whip  of 
Chin,  or  as  he  calls  it,  "The  Magic  Whip."  We  will 
quote  John  Gwadey's  words:  "A  certain  god  up  in 
heaven  looked  down  and  saw  the  people  were  being 
killed  by  the  king  and  thrown  into  the  Wall  because  they 
could  not  get  the  work  done.  So  he  pitied  the  people 
and  came  down  from  heaven  with  a  magic  thread 
which  he  gave  the  workmen  to  put  about  their  wrists. 


#?  a  z-  ft  »  m  w  —  f  *?      119 

The  good  are  short-lived,  the  evil  last  a  thousand 
years. 

It  gave  them  great  strength,  so  that  when  the  king 
came  along  he  was  surprised  how  fast  and  well  the 
work  was  done.  Inquiring  the  cause  he  found  the  work- 
men wearing  the  magic  thread.  So  he  took  all  these 
magic  threads  and  out  of  them  made  a  lash  for  his  whip 
which  thereupon  became  more  wonderful  still.  With 
the  woven  magic  threads  it  had  great  virtue.  With  it 
he  could  remove  mountains  or  make  the  Yellow  River 
stand  back  for  his  men  to  build  the  Wall.  Indeed,  when 
he  wanted  to  run  the  Wall  into  the  sea  he  simply  swung 
his  whip  and  a  mountain  tumbled  into  the  sea  and  the 
Wall  was  built  on  it."  Gwadey  went  on  to  say  that 
Chin's  horse  was  white  and  could  fly  with  its  legs  as 
well  as  if  it  had  wings. 

We  asked  a  birth-native,  "Was  Chin  a  good  man?" 
He  replied,  "He  was  a  king.  Look  into  the  books;  if 
the  books  say  he  was  a  good  man  then  he  was  a  good 
man."    Not  far  away  to  the  northeast  is  Yulin. 

Yulin,  we  might  point  out,  is  the  great  mule  mart  of 
the  north.  About  the  town  and  surrounding  country 
cling  many  legends.  Indeed,  the  folk-lore  in  the  sec- 
tion between  the  Yellow  River  and  the  Christian  city  of 
Siaochao  is  as  prolific  as  in  charming  Shetland — of  a 
vastly  different  sort,  of  course. 

Seventy  li  west  of  Yulin  is  a  natural  stone  bridge 
spanning  a  branch  of  the  Wuting  Ho.  The  water 
after  passing  under  the  arch,  plunges  down  to  the  river 
bed  below,  forming  a  very  pretty  waterfall.  The 
natives  say  that  in  this  bridge  was  a  mysterious  room 
where  the  hermit  of  the  Wuting  Ho  hid  valuable  treas- 


120  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

ure.  From  the  secret  chamber  ran  an  eyelet  to  the  top 
of  the  bridge,  and  into  this  wee  opening  the  people 
of  the  district  continually  poured  oil  which  fed  a  magic 
lamp  and  kept  it  burning  perpetually. 

Many  attempts  had  been  made  to  find  a  secret  door 
which  was  said  to  furnish  entrance  to  the  heaps  of  gold 
stored  in  the  room  of  the  hermit.  It  had  long  been 
prophesied  that  some  magic  word  would  open  the  way 
to  the  treasure.  A  vagrant  fellow  bethought  himself 
to  practise  on  the  room.  He  tried  various  words  and 
one  evening  to  his  amazement  the  bolts  slowly  released 
themselves  and  the  stone  door  mysteriously  opened. 
Now  he  had  taken  the  precaution  to  take  a  grain  bag 
with  him.  When  the  light  of  the  lamp  fell  upon  untold 
treasure  he  leaped  in  with  a  muttered  shout  of  joy. 
He  rilled  the  bag  and  descended  the  stairs  to  the  door 
only  to  find  it  closed  in  his  face.  Doomed  to  die  of 
starvation,  he  fell  to  serious  thinking,  and  concluded 
that  covetousness  had  closed  the  door.  He  emptied  half 
the  gold  and  gems,  but  no,  the  word  failed  to  work. 
Then  more  gold  was  flung  out  of  the  sack,  and  still  the 
magic  was  not  in  the  word.  At  last  he  took  one  shoe  of 
silver  and  the  word  was  with  power.  The  door,  opening, 
let  him  pass  and  as  mysteriously  closed  again  never 
more  to  be  opened,  for  the  gods  carted  off  the  treasure 
to  prevent  men  destroying  themselves.  Moral,  beware 
of  covetousness! 

To  Oldest  China,  local  legends  say,  came  Fu  Su,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  first  emperor,  who  because  he  refused 
to  acquiesce  in  the  burning  of  the  books  was  banished  to 
the  nortli  where  he  aided  in  directing  the  building  of 


TV- 


t 


w 


h    f 


*^ 


THE  BIRD  OF  THI    GREAT  WALL 
The  Indian   Blue   Magpie 


m.  #  *»  «  #  ®  #«  jm         121 

Being  good  is  like  climbing,  being  bad  like  falling. 

the  Great  Wall.  He  was  murdered  immediately  after 
his  father's  death  by  command  of  Li,  the  chancellor, 
that  his  younger  brother  might  succeed  to  the  throne. 
The  building  of  the  Wall  was  as  good  as  a  jail  for  the 
punishment  of  offenders.  On  not  a  few  occasions  The 
Only  First  deported  dishonest  judges  to  the  north,  con- 
demned to  labor  on  the  rampart  as  an  expiation  for 
their  sins. 

Far  away  toward  the  west  we  stopped  at  a  hamlet 
of  four  houses,  known  as  the  Water  Grave  Ravine. 
Here  we  patronized  the  Inn  of  Increasing  Righteous- 
ness kept  by  a  Boniface  called  Happy  Son  of  Move- 
ment. This  mine  of  folk-lore  produced  corroborative 
statements  as  to  the  giants  of  Chin's  day.  "Oh,  yes,  I 
know  the  men  were  over  ten  feet  high ;  the  old  men  say 
so,  and  I  have  seen  the  bones  in  the  Wall,  four  feet  long 
below  the  knee."  The  truth  of  this  is  guaranteed,  for 
Happy  Son  is  clean,  cheap,  a  widower,  a  goatherd,  he 
does  not  shave,  and  he  worships  seven  ancestral  tablets. 

These  bone  stories  awakened  in  us  an  interest  in  the 
Anaks  of  history.  As  a  result  we  fell  upon  the  Chinese 
historical  records  and  found  mention  of  men  of  height 
and  might  concerning  which  narratives  we  have  no 
doubt  save  only  that  a  few  additional  inches  may  have 
been  added  in  some  instances  to  their  stature  to  intensify 
the  native  imagination. 

Shih  Tien  Tse,  high  minister  of  Kublai  Khan,  with 
a  voice  like  a  bell,  stood  eight  feet  high!  In  297  a.d. 
lived  the  famous  Mu-jung  Huang,  seven  feet,  eight 
inches.  .  .  .     Mu-jung  Hui,  268  a.d.,  eight  feet  high. 


122  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

.  .  .  336  a.d.,  Mu-jung  Tse;  eight  feet,  three  inches. 
.  .  .  319  A.D.,  Mu-jung  Tsun,  fond  of  books,  eight  feet 
high.  .  .  . 

The  history  often  speaks  of  strong  men.  One  such 
was  the  giant  Chu  Hai,  a  man  of  prodigious  strength 
who  was  sent  as  an  envoy  to  the  court  of  Chin.  The 
emperor  threw  him  into  a  den  of  tigers.  Whereupon 
Chu's  hair  stood  on  end  and  he  took  on  such  a  hideous 
aspect  and  glared  so  fearfully  at  the  tigers  they  did  not 
venture  to  attack  him.  We  also  read  of  huge  humans 
not  only  over  seven  feet  high  but  otherwise  developed 
in  proportion.  Goliath  of  Gath  had  progeny  here. 
Then  there  was  the  old  man  Huang  Mei  Weng  of  the 
second  century  B.C.,  who  is  spoken  of  as  follows:  "An 
old  man  with  yellow  eyebrows,  who  told  Tung-fang  So 
that  he  lived  on  air,  changed  his  bones  and  washed  his 
marrow,  cast  his  skin,  and  cut  his  hair  once  every  three 
thousand  years,  and  that  he  had  done  these  things 
three  times  already!" 

These  abnormally  large  men  were  provided  with 
correspondingly  liberal  appetites,  for  they  ate  a  bushel 
at  a  meal.  We  offer  the  legends  this  corroborative  tes- 
timony: if  the  men  who  built  the  Great  Wall  were  not 
giants  they,  when  seen  at  a  distance  and  on  the  sky  line, 
appeared  to  be  of  unusual  size.  We  saw  men  on  moun- 
tain ridges  who,  by  some  atmospheric  illusion,  had  every 
appearance  of  being  a  dozen  feet  tall.  Often  we  re- 
marked this  strange  phenomena.  Horses  were  also 
abnormally  increased  in  size  by  some  mirage-like  con- 
trivance of  nature.  Opinions  may  differ  as  to  there 
being  giants  in  the  days  of  Chin.     We  are  convinced 


#  ♦  %  m  a  123 

In  good  works  don't  yield  place  to  others. 

that  more  men  of  exceptional  size  existed  then  than 
now.  The  appearance  of  many  of  enormous  stature 
as  we  passed  along,  due  to  some  freak  of  nature,  leads 
us  to  willingly  credit  the  ancients  with  the  human  virtue 
of  honesty  in  these  semi-historical  legends  of  the  giants 
who  built  the  Great  Wall. 

Here  we  gathered  a  choice  selection  of  local  legends, 
showing  many  variants  on  a  few  themes  of  cruelty,  love 
and  magic.  The  line  of  the  Wall  was  marked  out  not 
by  Chin,  but  by  Chin's  white  magic  horse.  A  saddle 
was  tied  to  its  tail,  and  it  was  allowed  to  wander  freely ; 
where  it  strayed,  the  architect  followed  and  pegged  out 
the  line  for  the  builders.  John  Gwadey  improved  on 
this  by  adding  that  at  one  point  the  workmen  could  not 
keep  up  with  the  horse,  so  stopped  to  drink  tea.  A  dry 
fog  blew  meantime  so  that  they  could  see  neither  the 
horse  nor  its  footprints;  so  after  tea  they  continued  in 
the  same  line  as  before  for  ten  miles.  But  not  seeing 
the  horse  yet,  they  became  suspicious,  and  sent  one  up 
a  hill  to  look  out.  He  found  the  horse  far  away  to  the 
northwest,  heading  in  quite  a  different  direction.  So 
they  abandoned  the  last  stretch,  returned  to  the  tea 
camp  and  built  a  new  wall  after  the  horse.  And  to  this 
day  stand  the  abandoned  forty  H  of  wall  to  prove  the 
story. 

Hear  another.  Hsuan  Tung  was  a  man  employed 
on  the  Wall,  but  because  he  was  not  active  enough,  Chin 
had  him  thrown  into  it.  His  widow  heard  of  the  diffi- 
culty and  came  a  long  way  to  find  the  body.  Weeping 
as  she  went  along  the  line,  her  grief  caused  the  Wall  to 


124  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

open  and  show  many  corpses.  To  identify  her  husband 
she  bit  her  middle  finger  and  let  fall  a  drop  of  blood  on 
each  till  one  moved.  This  she  drew  out  and  gave  proper 
burial,  sorrowing  for  him  the  rest  of  her  life. 

Once  again.  Chin  planned  to  build  this  Wall  a  hun- 
dred yards  high,  so  as  to  intercept  all  the  gracious  influ- 
ences from  the  south,  and  reflect  them  back  on  to  his 
realm.  So  well  did  he  succeed  that  for  ten  miles  to  the 
north  nought  but  evil  and  terror  reigned;  no  desert 
herdsman  dared  bring  his  cattle  within  thirty  li  of  the 
Wall. 

Having  thus  arrived  into  the  ancestral  territory  of 
Chin  and  all  his  family,  it  behooves  us  to  winnow  out 
the  facts  from  the  multitudinous  legends. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 


Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 


John   Gwadey,   Esq. 
The  small  picture  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner  shows  him  as  he  appeared 
when   our    Expedition    reached    Kiayiikwan 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Rise  of  Chin:  The  Seven  Great  Chancellors 

Although  the  Great  Wall  is  the  hugest  of  the  works 
of  men  it  did  not  prevent  the  Tartars,  whom  some  think 
it  was  meant  to  exclude,  from  getting  possession  of 
the  empire  and  holding  it  for  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  years.  And  other  branches  of  the  race  have  held 
it  in  whole  or  in  part  for  periods  amounting  to  three  or 
four  centuries.  Still  it  may  be  affirmed  that  there  is 
no  relic  of  antiquity  more  deserving  of  study  than  the 
Great  Wall  of  China.  And  Huang  Ti,  the  title  of  the 
autocratic  sovereign,  appears  to  be  as  changeless  as  the 
granite  stones  of  the  Wall. 

Historians  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  rise  of 
Ch'in  as  due  to  the  influence  of  six  great  chancellors. 
We,  on  the  other  hand,  are  inclined  to  say  that  seven 
great  chancellors  were  responsible  for  the  fall  of  six 
kingdoms  and  the  establishment  of  a  vast  and  stable 
empire  of  China.  In  addition  to  the  six  to  be  men- 
tioned in  this  chapter,  mention  must  be  made  of  an- 
other, Wei  Jan,  who  lived  in  the  third  century  B.C.  He 
"played  a  leading  part  in  the  aggressive  policy  which 
culminated  later  on  in  the  triumph  of  the  first  emperor." 
Under  the  regency  of  the  Dowager  Hsiian,  Jan  ac- 
cepted the  position  of  commander-in-chief  of  the  armies 
of  Ch'in.  As  a  military  leader  he  was  successful. 
After    destroying    multitudes    of    men    and    seizing 

125 


126  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

seventy-six  cities  he  handed  over  the  command  to 
General  Po  Ch'i  and  himself  accepted  the  portfolio  of 
the  chancellorship.  For  upwards  of  forty  years  Jan 
exercised  almost  absolute  power  in  the  feudal  state  of 
Chin.  During  his  term  of  office  one  hundred  and  thirty 
cities  were  permanently  added  to  the  realm  of  his  mas- 
ter besides  hundreds  of  li  of  territory;  making  alto- 
gether a  vast  accession  to  the  prestige,  power,  wealth, 
and  aggrandizement  of  the  state  of  Ch'in.  He  deserves 
mention  among  the  great  chancellors  who  wrought  the 
ascent  of  Chin  the  king  into  Chin  the  emperor. 

While  the  guest  of  Dr.  Martin  in  the  Western  Hills 
before  leaving  for  Tibet  we  asked  the  wizard  of  Pearl 
Grotto  "who  made  the  rise  of  Chin  possible?"  The 
great  scholar  at  once  launched  out  on  the  rise  of  Chin: 
the  six  great  chancellors:  the  power  behind  the  Great 
Wall,  and  its  political  significance. 

Impressed  by  the  wonderfully  informing  conversa- 
tion of  the  brilliant  author  of  A  Cycle  of  Cathay,  and 
not  caring  to  risk  a  reproduction  from  memory,  we 
were  fortunate  enough  to  procure  from  him  the  follow- 
ing sketch : 

The  Problem.  Who  was  the  builder  of  this  monster 
fabric?  Who  was  the  originator  of  the  political  system 
of  which  it  stands  as  the  appropriate  symbol?  Were 
they  both  achievements  of  one  master  mind?  Or  were 
they  the  result  of  ages  of  preparation? 

The  Answer  in  General  Terms.  In  answering  these 
questions  we  must  distinguish  between  achievement  and 
preparation,  between  those  triumphs  in  war  and  peace, 
which  make  the  builder  one  of  the  greatest  figures  in 


The   eight   famous   Churtons   of   Kumbum,   on   the   borders  of   Tibet;   also 
the  Temple  of  the   Golden    Roof 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

The    Beautiful    Bridge    at    Chinchow,    the    ancestral    house    of    the    Chins 


The  work  beiug  adequate,  the  result  is  a  matter  of 
course. 

human  history,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  occult 
processes,  which  made  possible  the  existence  of  such  a 
revolutionary  autocrat ! 

This  extraordinary  personage,  is  he  not  a  myth  like 
Hercules  with  his  twelve  labors?  So  far  from  being 
veiled  in  obscurity,  like  the  heroes  of  the  classic  West, 
he  stands  before  us  in  such  light  as  the  Chinese  histo- 
rians afford.  They  have  supplied  us  with  a  mass  of 
material  from  which  it  remains  for  us  to  extract  a 
sketch  of  his  life  and  character.  Four  imperishable 
monuments  he  has  left  behind  him,  each  amply  suffi- 
cient to  keep  his  memory  alive  —  the  Wall  which 
stretches  from  the  sea  to  the  desert,  the  island  of  Ching 
Wang  Tao  that  bears  his  name  and  is  visible  from  the 
eastern  end  of  the  wold,  the  empire  which  he  molded 
into  a  compact  body,  and  lastly  the  name  China  which,  in 
spite  of  the  objections  drawn  from  Japanese  and  Indian 
sources,  I  take  to  be  the  name  of  Chin — his  native  state 
— which  after  absorbing  all  rivals  stood  alone  between 
the  mountains  and  the  sea. 

To  vindicate  his  title  to  these  notable  distinctions  we 
shall  have  to  allow  him  a  pretty  long  space  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages,  although  our  special  object  is  to  point  out 
the  conditions  and  agencies  which  brought  his  career 
within  the  range  of  possibility,  for  it  was  the  gradual 
rise  of  an  obscure  principality  that  prepared  the  way 
for  Chin  Cheng  the  "Tyrant  of  Ch'in."  Would  any 
one  think  of  giving  an  account  of  Napoleon  without 
referring  to  the  French  revolution?  The  arena  which 
tempted  the  ambitions  of  Ch'in  Cheng  was  as  large  as 


128  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

half  of  Europe,  filled  with  jarring  elements  seething 
and  exploding  like  the  crater  of  a  volcano.  He  it  was 
who  enforced  peace,  making  them  at  least  compara- 
tively quiescent. 

The  third  great  dynasty,  that  of  Chou,  had  occupied 
the  throne  for  six  centuries  when  the  ancestors  of  Chin 
Cheng  began  to  make  a  figure  in  history.  Already  were 
its  vassals  yielding  to  centrifugal  forces:  which  even- 
tually brought  them  into  terrific  collision  with  each 
other  and  precipitated  the  fall  of  the  decaying  house. 
In  their  combinations  and  conflicts  they  consulted  their 
suzerain  as  little  as  the  papal  powers  of  Europe  do  the 
wishes  of  the  pope  of  Rome.  Heir  to  a  venerable  name, 
he  had  little  territory  and  no  army.  Yet  as  a  sort  of  high 
priest  and  the  recognized  fountain  of  honors,  he  was 
held  in  reverence  long  after  the  disappearance  of  his 
military  force.  The  first  seat  of  the  Chous  was  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Yellow  River  at  or  near  Siangfu. 
Their  dominions  extended  to  the  borders  of  the  other 
great  river,  the  Yangtze,  but  not  a  foot  of  what  is  at 
present  the  southern  half  of  China  proper  acknowl- 
edged their  sway  and  the  whole  of  the  territory  swarmed 
with  hostile  tribes.  Within  this  area  their  book  of  history 
opens  auspiciously  with  a  fair  degree  of  good  order. 
But  the  court  was  in  one  corner  of  the  empire,  and 
wisdom  dictated  a  more  central  location;  perhaps  pru- 
dence, too,  suggested  removal  to  a  greater  distance  from 
the  frontier.  Following  the  river  they  established  their 
headquarters  not  far  from  Kaifeng  in  Honan.  This 
was  their  eastern  capital.     The  other  capital  was  not 


-  +  *  m  -  *  &         129 

An  inch  of  time  is  an  inch  of  gold. 

taken  by  the  Tartars  but  quietly  appropriated  by  the 
growing  state  of  Ch'in. 

A  sparsely  peopled  and  semi-savage  region  on  the 
northwest  border  was  the  domain  of  the  Chins.  There 
the  ancestors  of  the  first  Huan  Ti  hardened  themselves 
in  conflict  with  still  more  savage  foes — their  people 
making  equal  use  of  spear  and  pruning  hook,  or  follow- 
ing their  plow  armed  with  sword  and  crossbow.  Of 
the  five  ranks  of  nobilit}r,  theirs  was  the  lowest;  that 
of  baronet  or  little  baron.  Nor  were  they  regarded 
merely  with  disdain  by  those  who  wore  the  insignia  of 
highest  rank ;  their  people  were  despised  by  those  of  the 
more  cultivated  states.  So  deep  were  these  sentiments 
that  princes  and  people  objected  to  admitting  the  Chins 
to  a  seat  in  their  national  conventions.  Scorned  and 
despised  as  they  were,  who  could  detect  in  those  border 
ruffians  the  founders  of  an  imperial  house?  The  story 
of  their  transformation,  of  which  we  shall  not  give 
more  than  an  outline,  reads  like  a  fairy  tale.  Aschen- 
puttel,  Cinderella  of  the  ash-heap,  was  to  be  the  coming 
princess. 

Yes,  history  in  retrospect  discovers  in  them  marvelous 
though  gradual  development.  It  is  something  like  a 
law  of  nature — given  a  border  state  with  adequate  area 
for  expansion,  claiming  kinship  with  people  of  higher 
culture  and  engaged  in  repelling  the  incursions  of  bar- 
barous tribes,  and  you  have  the  conditions  out  of  which 
have  sprung  more  than  one  of  the  great  powers  of  the 
world!  What  was  Macedon  but  such  a  border  state, 
claiming  affinity  with  Greece,  yet  serving  as  a  buffer 


130  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

between  the  Greeks  and  the  wild  tribes  of  Scythia? 
Disowned  by  the  Greeks  and  compelled  by  Xerxes  to 
assist  in  his  invasion,  could  it  be  doubted  that  the  fore- 
fathers of  Alexander  cherished,  even  before  the  time 
of  Philip,  the  dream  of  compelling  the  homage  of 
Athens,  and  of  crossing  into  Asia  at  the  very  point 
where  the  Persians  crossed  into  Europe?  Had  they 
not  before  their  eyes  Xenophon's  story  of  the  "Ten 
Thousand"  and  had  not  the  youthful  hero  the  greatest 
philosophers  of  Greece  to  train  his  expanding  intellect? 

Keep  this  parallel  in  mind,  and  it  will  help  us  to  esti- 
mate the  merit  of  a  conqueror  who  led  larger  armies 
than  those  of  Alexander,  who  vanquished  as  many 
kingdoms,  and  whose  grandest  exploit  was  the  found- 
ing of  an  empire  which  did  not  break  up  at  its  founder's 
death,  but  endures  after  two  thousand  one  hundred 
years. 

The  Agencies  of  Foreigners.  In  Europe  there  was 
a  time  when  soldiers  of  fortune  roved  from  state  to 
state  and  placed  their  swords  at  the  service  of  those  who 
paid  best;  but  Europe  furnishes  no  instance  of  an 
ambitious  power  taking  its  leading  statesmen  from 
abroad  and  shaping  its  policy  by  their  advice.  Yet  this 
is  what  the  chiefs  of  Ch'in  persistently  did  through  a 
period  of  more  than  two  centuries. 

The  Czar  Peter  did  something  of  the  kind  under  the 
influence  of  the  same  motives  when  he  put  himself 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Genovese  Le  Fort  and  when 
he  became  an  apprentice  in  the  workshops  of  Holland. 
But  Peter  the  Great  stands  among  the  Romanoffs  as 
a  solitary  example,  whereas  among  the  chiefs  of  Ch'in 


ii$% mm  mm  ma      ™ 

It  is  homely  fare  that  feeds  and  coarse  cloth  that 
warms. 

there  was  a  long  line  of  Peters  and  half  a  dozen 
Le  Forts  clothed  with  the  fullest  powers. 

The  Six  Chancellors  of  Ch'in.  The  most  noted  of 
those  foreigners  who  contributed  to  the  upbuilding  of 
the  rising  power  will  now  claim  our  attention.  They 
were  Po-li  Hsi,  Shang  Yang,  more  commonly  known 
as  Wei  Yang  though  his  real  name  was  Kung-sun 
Yang,  Chang  I,  Fan  Chu,  Lii  Pu-wei  and  Li  Ssu.1 
Names  strange  to  Europe,  but  in  the  part  which  they 
played  they  answer  to  the  MaZarins  and  Cavours. 

1.  Po-li  Hsi.  To  remedy  the  disadvantage  of  a 
sparse  population,  the  chiefs  of  Ch'in  had  been  wise 
enough  to  open  their  gates  to  immigrants  from  the 
neighboring  principalities.  Of  these  many  were  em- 
ployed in  grazing  on  the  confines  of  Mongolia,  the  land 
of  grass.  "For  safety  they  had  to  band  together;  and 
with  them  existence  was  one  unceasing  conflict — their 
principal  enemy  being  the  Tartar,  always  on  the  alert 
to  swoop  on  an  unprotected  flock.  By  chance  the  name 
of  Po-li  Hsi  came  to  the  ears  of  Mu  Kung,  i.e.,  Baron 
Mu  (of  Ch'in).  His  merits  were  recognized  alike  by 
the  settled  people  and  the  wandering  strangers.  A 
cowboy,  like  those  of  Colorado  or  Dakota,  he  had  by 
courage,  probity  and  talent  made  himself  a  king  of  men 
wanting  nothing  but  the  insignia  of  power.     Finding 

1  Besides  Wei  Jan,  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  there  has  been  omitted 
Su  (.'h'in  (see  p.  134) ;  Po-li  Hsi,  on  the  other  hand,  who  lived  in  the 
seventh  century  B.C.,  is  not  usually  included  in  this  list.  Even  thus  we  get 
seven  chancellors,  namely:  (1)  Wei  Yang;  (s?)  Su  Ch'in;  (3)  Chang  I; 
(4)  Wei  Jan;  (5)  Fan  Chu;  (6)  Lli  iJu-wei;  (7)  Li  Ssu.  The  last 
named,  however,  was  not  made  chancellor  until  214  B.C.,  and  might  there- 
fore be  omitted  from  the  list  of  those  who  contributed  to  the  rise  of  Chin. 


132  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

him  to  be  a  man  of  real  culture,  ready  wit  and  inex- 
haustible resource  the  baron,  after  a  brief  trial,  invested 
him  with  the  full  honors  of  the  premiership. 

Here  is  the  eulogy  pronounced  a  generation  later  in 
reply  to  one  who  was  jealous  of  his  fame.  "Po-li  Hsi, 
a  stranger  from  Hupeh,1  was  lifted  from  a  herdsman's 
booth.  So  poor  was  he  when  he  entered  the  country 
that  he  sold  (hired)  himself  for  five  sheepskins  as  his 
monthly  wage.  At  the  height  of  power  he  never  forgot 
his  primitive  simplicity.  To  the  rich  he  was  a  master; 
to  the  poor  a  friend ;  and  when  death  snatched  him  away 
after  a  tenure  of  six  or  seven  years,  the  whole  people 
wept  from  sincere  sorrow.  Shops  were  closed,  there 
was  silence  in  the  streets  and  the  whole  state  mourned 
for  the  man  who  was  the  first  to  make  it  conscious  of 
its  strength." 

2.  Shang  Yang.  With  this  example  before  his  eyes 
Hiao  Kung,  the  next  chief  of  Ch'in,  made  public 
proclamation  that  any  man,  native  or  foreign,  who  had 
a  wise  scheme  for  augmenting  the  power  of  Ch'in, 
would  be  listened  to  and  rewarded,  and  if  his  plans  were 
adopted  the  highest  honors  would  be  heaped  on  him. 

Borne  on  the  winds — without  telegraph  or  news- 
paper— this  appeal  reached  the  ears  of  a  young  man 
from  Honan1  who,  as  the  Chinese  say,  was  "wagging 
his  tail"  before  the  door  of  a  neighboring  prince.  A 
minister  who  had  received  him  into  his  family  and  knew 
his  worth,  was  on  his  deathbed,  and  being  asked  by  the 
prince  whom  he  would  recommend  to  succeed  to  his 
portfolio   he   replied,    "Here   is    Shang   Yang;  either 

1  These  names  are  anachronisms. 


o 

■§> 

c 

cS 

s 


a       d 


Rm#»Jrmmm        i33 

A  foot  of  jade  is  not  precious,  but  an  inch  of  time  is 
a  thing  to  be  struggled  for. 

make  him  your  premier  or  kill  him  before  he  enters  the 
service  of  your  northern  rival."  The  advice  was  not 
heeded  and  the  prince  had  occasion  to  regret  that  he 
had  put  a  powerful  weapon  into  the  hands  of  his  enemy. 

The  chief  of  Ch'in  was  delighted  with  Yang's  scheme 
for  the  aggrandizement  of  his  country.  "You,"  said 
he,  "are  the  man  to  carry  it  out,"  and  in  a  short  time 
Yang  found  himself  clothed  with  authority  from  which 
there  was  no  appeal,  except  to  the  veto  of  the  chief. 
For  twenty-three  years  the  chief  stood  by  him  while 
he  was  pushing  forward  the  most  drastic  and  unpopular 
reforms. 

He  readjusted  the  tenure  of  land,  rectified  the  mone- 
tary system  in  which  the  currency  had  become  debased, 
and  did  the  same  for  the  weights  and  measures,  placing 
fair  standards  in  every  market  and  making  them  ac- 
cessible to  all.  His  most  heroic  performance  was  com- 
pelling certain  privileged  classes  to  bow  to  the  majesty 
of  the  law.  Like  Achilles  of  old,  they  "denied  that 
laws  were  made  for  them."  And  two  members  of  the 
chief's  family  undertook  to  trample  on  the  new  regula- 
tions. One  of  them  was  branded  on  the  face  as  a  warn- 
ing and  the  other  subjected  to  long  imprisonment.  So 
thorough  was  the  reformation  that  violence  and  robbery 
were  nowhere  heard  of,  and  it  is  added  that  "valuables 
might  be  left  in  the  street,  and  no  one  would  venture 
to  pick  them  up" — a  phrase  used  to  describe  the  secu- 
rity of  the  golden  age. 

Yet  the  people  were  not  satisfied  with  a  Draconian 
legislation,  which  though  it  was  so  severe  as  to  look  like 


134  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

oppression,  gave  safety  to  the  toiling  multitudes;  the 
privileged  classes  fomented  discontent  and  on  the  death 
of  his  patron  it  broke  forth,  and  Shang  Yang,  bound 
between  two  chariots,  was  literally  torn  to  pieces.1 

By  this  time  it  had  become  apparent  that  nothing 
short  of  imperial  power  could  satisfy  the  ambitions  of 
Chin.  Shang  Yang  was  the  first  to  perceive  this  and 
in  a  sketch  of  the  situation  fanned  the  flame,  while  he 
adroitly  put  forward  his  own  merit.  Had  his  chief, 
with  whom  his  own  star  had  such  a  fatal  connection,  but 
enjoyed  a  longer  lease  of  life,  no  doubt  the  bold  minis- 
ter would  have  attempted  to  win  for  him  the  rank  of 
dictator,  if  not  that  of  emperor.  But  other  eyes  were 
equally  alert  to  discern  the  trend  of  Chin's  policy  which 
looked  to  the  south  instead  of  confining  his  attention  to 
the  Tartars. 

Su  Ch'in  and  Chang  I  were  fellow  students  in  a 
political  school,  the  existence  of  which  was  a  sign  of 
the  times.  It  was  located  in  a  mountain  gorge,  called 
Kweiu,  the  Devil's  Hollow,  and  its  head  masters  were 
careful  never  to  disclose  their  real  names — though  eager 
to  attract  students.  They  were  not  committed  to  any 
party;  and  drew  aspiring  youth  from  all  the  states. 
They  were,  no  doubt,  men  who  had  filled  high  posts  in 
cabinet  or  field,  and  who  found  consolation  for  vanished 
glory  in  training  the  youth  for  services;  which 
could  hardly  be  called  patriotic,  for  their  policy  was 

1  He  first  fled  to  the  Wei  state,  but  owing  to  his  previous  treachery  was 
refused  asylum.  He  then  took  refuge  in  his  own  fief  of  Shang  and  offered 
armed  resistance,  but  was  speedily  overpowered  and  killed  at  the  head  of 
his  troops,  his  body  being  subsequently  torn  to  pieces. 


i  * 


I  +  l» 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
The  Greal    Wall  north  of  Tsunhwafu 


Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 


m  m  n  %  \n  *  m  u& 

To  the  believer  it  is  a  fact,  to  the  unbeliever  a  fiction. 

Machiavelian  and  the  test  of  success,  personal  ad- 
vancement. 

Su  was  the  first  to  emerge  from  the  academic  shade 
and  like  Shang  Yang  he  proceeded  to  the  court  of  Chin. 
Finding  the  new  prince  not  so  ready  to  adopt  new 
methods  as  his  predecessor  had  been,  he  left  the  court 
resolved  to  devote  his  energies  to  checkmating  and  de- 
feating his  schemes  of  aggrandizement.  On  the  east, 
says  the  chronicle,  were  six  strong  states;  and  on  the 
south  more  than  half  a  score  of  smaller  ones.  These 
strong  states  he  proposed  to  form  into  a  league  for 
mutual  defense,  and  by  dint  of  superhuman  effort  and 
matchless  skill  he  succeeded  in  forming  a  phalanx  that 
seemed  impregnable. 

Receiving  a  separate  commission  from  each  state,  Su 
Chin  brought  all  their  chiefs  together  in  one  grand  rally 
where,  under  his  directions,  the  league  was  ratified  by 
solemn  rites,  an  ox  being  offered  and  each  chief  laying 
his  hand  on  the  head  of  the  victim. 

3.  Chang  I.  A  greater  master  of  statecraft  now  ap- 
peared on  the  field,  seeking  to  associate  himself  with  Su 
in  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  the  league.  But  Su 
treated  him  with  such  insolence  that  he  betook  himself 
to  the  court  of  Chin  and  pledged  himself  to  undo  the 
formidable  confederation.  Themistocles  was  not  more 
subtle  nor  more  unscrupulous.  Commissioned  to  form 
a  counter  league,  he  soon  had  the  six  states  at  logger- 
heads, and  Su  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  his  proud 
structure  collapse  like  a  house  of  cards. 

4.  Fan  Chii.    A  native  of  the  same  region  and  proba- 


136  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

bly  a  student  in  the  same  "devilish  school''  was  the  next 
to  win  the  chancellor's  seal.  He  might  have  said  of  him- 
self, like  the  Younger  Cyrus,  that  no  one  should  be 
more  terrible  in  punishing  his  enemies  or  more  generous 
in  rewarding  his  friends. 

Sent  by  his  own  prince  as  secretary  of  legation  to 
Shantung,  he  had  been  accused  by  the  envoy  of  accept- 
ing a  bribe,  and  on  his  return  was  condemned  to  be 
beaten  to  death.  Seemingly  dead,  he  survived  to  exact 
a  terrible  vengeance.  Betaking  himself  to  Chin  he 
acquired  such  an  ascendancy  in  the  councils  of  the  state 
that  he  made  war  on  his  own  country,  and  reduced  it  to 
such  extremity  that  it  was  glad  to  make  peace  by  send- 
ing him  the  head  of  his  enemy. 

The  chief  service  which  Fan  Chii  rendered  to  his 
master  was  the  inauguration  of  a  policy  of  encroach- 
ment on  near  neighbors  in  lieu  of  doubtful  expeditions 
against  remote  rivals. 

5.  The  fifth  chancellor  was  Lii  Pu-wei,  a  merchant 
of  Hantan  in  South  Chihli.  Meeting  at  a  foreign 
court  of  Ijen,  a  grandson  of  the  prince  of  Ch'in,  he 
ingratiated  himself  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  in- 
vited to  the  capital  of  Ch'in.  There  he  pulled  the  wires 
so  cleverly  that  he  got  his  patron  Ijen  raised  to  the 
throne  on  the  death  of  the  old  prince.  The  son  of  the 
new  king  was  Chin  Cheng,  the  builder  of  the  Great 
Wall,  then  a  youth  of  thirteen,  and  his  mother,  the 
princess  regent,  appointed  Lii  Pu-wei  guardian  of  her 
son  with  the  title  of  Ch'ungfu — second  father. 

f>.  The  sixth  chancellor  was  Li  Ssu.  Chosen  directly 
by  the  young  prince  who  thereby  declared  his  own  inde- 


i§  %  m  &  n  m  m  m         137 

A  boy  without  ambition  is  blunt  iron  without  steel 

pendence,  Li  Ssu  surpassed  the  other  five  in  radical 
reforms,  as  much  as  his  young  master  eclipsed  his  fore- 
fathers in  the  splendor  of  his  achievements.  He,  like 
his  master,  built  on  the  solid  foundation  slowly  laid  by 
those  who  had  gone  before.  Some  of  the  five  had 
nursed  a  feeble  state  into  a  formidable  power,  others 
had  prevented  its  overthrow  and  enlarged  its  borders  at 
the  expense  of  its  neighbors.  Nothing  remained  but 
to  sweep  the  chessboard  and  to  adopt  measures  for 
securing  what  was  regarded  as  universal  dominion. 

The  house  of  Chou  was  stripped  of  its  shadow  of 
supremacy,  and  its  last  scion  pensioned  off  as  a  de- 
pendency of  Chin.  Five  of  the  greater  states  now  laid 
down  their  arms  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  retain 
their  lands  as  vassals  of  a  new  sovereign.  To  their  sur- 
prise their  petition  was  rejected  because  king  and  min- 
ister were  bent  on  obliterating  all  the  old  landmarks  and 
remaking  the  map  of  the  empire. 

Here  we  have  in  a  word  the  secret  of  the  burning  of 
the  Confucian  classics  and  the  slaughter  of  Confucian 
scholars — two  things  which  have  led  the  official  his- 
torians— all  Confucians — to  blacken  the  character  of 
the  greatest  of  China's  emperors,  by  making  him  a 
bastard  and  a  fool.  The  books  were  burned  (they  say) 
that  Chin  Cheng  (or  Lii  Cheng,  as  they  call  him1) 
might  stand  alone  in  his  fancied  glory  as  the  first 
emperor,  wilfully  ignoring  the  fact  that  he  was  the  first 
to  wear  the  title  of  Huang  Ti,  which  has  continued  to  be 
worn  by  twenty-two  dynasties.    The  scholars,  they  say, 

'So-called  on  account  of  Lii  Pu-wei's  alleged  paternity. 


138  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

were  put  to  death  to  ensure  that  the  books  should  not 
be  reproduced,  whereas  the  books  were  burned  by  way  of 
suppressing  a  feudal  system,  which  is  enshrined  in  their 
pages,  and  the  scholars  were  slain  because  they  plotted 
the  overthrow  of  the  new  power. 

The  Building  of  the  Wall.  The  last  of  his  rivals 
reduced  to  submission,  the  first  Huang  Ti,  as  we  may 
now  call  him,  turned  his  attention  to  the  Tartars  of  the 
north.  It  was  vain  to  think  of  subjugating  them  by 
force  of  arms.  The  best  expedient  would  be  to  erect 
a  barrier  between  them  and  China,  which  would  enable 
a  well-organized  force  to  hold  them  at  bay.  This  grand 
scheme,  if  not  the  suggestion  of  Li  Ssu,  met  with  his 
unqualified  approval;  otherwise  how  could  he  have  con- 
tinued to  retain  the  seals,  as  he  did,  to  the  very  end  of 
his  master's  long  reign  ?  The  building  of  the  Wall  was 
the  chief  work  of  the  monarch's  last  twelve  years,  and 
his  prime  minister  must  have  had  much  to  do  with  it. 
The  oversight  of  the  construction  was,  however,  en- 
trusted to  Meng  T'ien,  one  of  his  military  officers, 
known  for  energy  and  success  in  the  battlefield.  It  is 
curious  that  his  name  survives  only  in  connection  with 
the  hair  pencil,  of  which  he  was  the  inventor.  In  a 
revolutionary  age,  few  of  its  reforms  were  more  im- 
portant than  that  which  substituted  the  pencil  for  the 
stylus  and  paper  for  cumbersome  strips  of  bamboo. 

Tien  pi  Lun  chih.  "Meng  Tien  invented  the  pencil 
and  Ts'ai  Lun  invented  paper,"  is  a  line  daily  recited 
by  boys  in  primary  schools — preserving  the  memory  of 
two  inventions  which  have  had  much  to  do  with  the 
course  of  events  in  modern  China. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
A  Section  of  the  Northern   Loop  of  the  Great  Wall 


Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 


iC  »  -  *t  =  #  «  139 

A  kind  word  keeps  warm  for  three  winters. 

Chin  Huang  Ti's  Travels.  Mu  Wang,  one  of  the 
Chous,  was  a  great  traveler.  But  poetry  has  had  quite 
as  much  to  do  with  the  record  of  his  journeys  as  with 
the  creation  of  a  marvelous  whip  beneath  the  lash  of 
which  the  broad  earth  grew  small.  Chin's  travels  were 
often  in  connection  with  his  military  expeditions.  His 
last  journey  was  to  the  Shantung  promontory,  from 
which  he  looked  out  on  the  eastern  ocean.  Though  he 
despatched  a  fleet  to  obtain  tidings  of  those  Isles  of  the 
Rising  Sun  (the  literal  meaning  of  Japan)  of  which 
he  had  only  heard  vague  rumors,  was  he,  like  Alex- 
ander, longing  for  more  worlds  to  conquer?  or,  as 
others  than  Chinese  had  done,  foolishly  seeking  the 
elixir  of  life? 

A  ballad  based  on  a  legendary  story  may  here  be 
added  as  a  not  inappropriate  appendix  to  this  historical 
disquisition.     It  was  written  a  year  ago. 

THE    FOUNTAIN    OF    YOUTH    OR    CHINA'S    GRAND 

ARMADA 

A  Legend  of  the  Wall  Builder 

From  a  lofty  tower  the  Tyrant  of  Ch'in 

Looked  out  on  the  Eastern  Sea; 
When  struck  by  a  thought  he  at  once  started  up, 

And  awoke  from  his  reverie. 

His  vizier  he  bid  a  council  convene 

In  his  tent  on  the  top  of  the  Wall ; 
All   wondered  what   scheme   had   come   into   his   head, 

As  they  met  at  their  Master's  call. 


140  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

"My  lieges,"  he  said,  "your  help  I  require, 

My  labors  are  only  begun, 
The  kingdoms  subdued  no  faction  I  dread, 

The  Wall   defies   traitor  or  Hun. 

"Yea,  though  my  success  might  envy  excite, 

Yet  when  I  from  earth  pass  away, 
The  empire  that  I  with  so  much  pains  have  built  up, 

I  fear,  will  fall  into  decay. 

"Had  I  but  a  few  years  longer  to  reign 

I'd  make  China  a  permanent  state, 
But  old  as  I  am,  that  end  to  attain, 

Myself  I  must  first  renovate. 

"In  Nippon,  'tis  said,  there's  a  Fountain  of  Youth, 
There  the  flowers  of  amaranth  bloom ; 

Could  I  from  that  fountain  obtain  but  a  draught, 
It  might  keep  me  out  of  the  tomb. 

"Haste,  rig  out  a  fleet,  those  seas  to  explore, 
Not  a  soldier  on  board  shall  you  take, 

With  the  fruits  of  our  land  in  beautiful  store, 
A  gainful  exchange  you  may  make." 

So  the  fleet  sailed  away — not  a  soldier  aboard — 
By  maidens  and  boys  it  was  manned, 

To  seek  for  the  Fountain  of  Youth  it  sailed, 
And  it  carried  the  youth  of  the  land. 

Their  teachers  and  books  were  not  quite  forgot, 
But  the  yards  with  garlands  were  hung, 

They  looked  like  a  school  on  a  holiday  cruise, 
With  their  flags  to  the  breezes  flung. 


—  »  Jl  ft  «S  »  JB  U1 

One  piece  of  bad  meat  makes  the  whole  pot  smell. 

Away  sailed  the  youth  in  gallant  array, 
But  their  homes  they  saw  never  more ; 

At  those  Eastern  Isles  they  safely  arrived, 
And  took  root  on  a  foreign  shore. 

The  Tyrant  of  Ch'in  though  on  conquest  bent, 

His  spear  point  with  roses  concealed ; 
To  the  Isles  of  the  East  by  that  festive  troop, 

He  the  learning  of  China  revealed. 

So  Japan  in  our  day  her  debt  to  repay, 
Brings  China  the  Fountain  of  Youth ; 

May  China  drink  deep  her  youth  to  renew, 
And  be  led  in  the  pathway  of  truth. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Letters  from  NinghiaS 

Ninghiafu,2  High  Asia. 

June 
Dear  Miss  X, 

"Attend!  for  we  must  hold  a  long  confabulation!" 
Thy  fleet  commands  even  though  not  urged  by  "the 
golden  scourge"  hasten  our  anxious  quill.  The  dazzling 
prize  of  thy  sweet  smile  allures  tales  of  templed  gods,  of 
tall  pagodas,  of  lofty  ramparts,  and  other  legends  which, 
in  these  parts,  submerge  the  common  mind.  Thy  re- 
quest to  know  what  Black  Dog  thinks  of  things  shall  be 
oppressive  until  with  inverted  commas  it  mitigates  "the 
stings  of  woe,"  and  from  thy  meager  measure  of  en- 
joyment drives  corrosive  grief.  In  morsels  shalt  thou 
have  the  diary  of  the  Dog.  Later  be  introduced  to  an 
old-school  Chinese  doctor.  Remember  that  the  Celestials 
have  a  thousand  drugs  and  give  queer  prescriptions. 
Indeed,  they  remind  us  of  the  skipper  of  a  sailing 
ship,  who  was  supplied  with  medicines  numbered  to 
correspond  with  a  book  of  explanations.  When  he  ran 
out  of  medicine  number  twelve  and  sickness  number 
twelve  developed  itself  in  one  of  his  crew,  he  simply 

1  The  letters  in  this  chapter  were  addressed  to  a  young  lady. 

2  A  legend  says  that  one  Huangti,  a  leader  of  a  band  of  immigrants, 
came  in  a  remote  age  out  of  the  west,  died,  and  was  buried  here.  This  site 
seems  to  have  had  a  dense  local  population  away  back  in  the  misty  cycles 
of  antiquity. 

142 


*  m  &  *  tt  143 

Deep  waters  run  slowly. 

united  medicines  nine  and  three  or  ten  and  two  and  gave 
the  compound  to  his  patient!  This  is  truly  Chinese.  In 
China,  too,  certain  diseases  are  looked  upon  as  inevit- 
able.1 It  is  said  that  a  Chinese  mother  does  not  count 
her  children  until  they  have  had  smallpox. 

The  Arabs  call  the  desert  "the  land  of  fear."  It 
needs  some  such  strong  descriptive  term.  So  we  felt 
when  at  last  we  passed  the  barren  wastes  of  scorching 
sand.    Mandeville  deposes  thus  concerning  it: 

"The  see  that  men   slepen,  the  gravely  see,  that  is  all 
gravelle  and  sond  withouten  ony  drope  of  watre." 

The  desert  is  suggestive  to  all  men.  Mark  the  Hindi 
saying:  Banda  na  ho  pan  jo  gaun  parko  banjo — "If 
women  manage  a  village  it  will  become  a  desert."  Does 
this  explain  the  presence  of  buried  cities  beneath  the 
wave-like  sands  of  Gobi? 

The  horror  of  the  desert  lies  in  its  nakedness,  empti- 
ness, aridity,  in  its  deceitfulness  and  death-dealing 
power.  But  it  has,  too,  its  charms.  It  is  not  only  the 
territory  of  death;  it  is  also  the  realm  of  the  "no-door 
life."  Out-of-door  life  is  good,  but  no-door  life  is 
better.  A  door  speaks  of  limitations,  ill-ventilation,  a 
place  wherein  to  cower  from  the  outer  world.  But  the 
no-door  life  we  live  on  this  vast  rediscovered  plateau — 
what  could  be  more  free?  With  the  silent  stars  above, 
and  below  the  noiseless  dust  and  breezes  as  bodiless  as 
drifting  cold,  here  is  life!     Here  too,  is  health,  away 

1  Cf.  the  proverb:  "The  doctor  may  cure  disease,  but  he  cannot  cure 
fate." 


144  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

from  cramped  quarters,  with  flickering  candles  and  the 
horror  of  newly  breathed  germs  from  the  diseased  bod- 
ies of  other  men,  and  out  in  the  midst  of  a  great  arched 
chamber,  indescribably  magnificent,  illuminated  by  the 
steady  lights  of  heaven,  and  fitted  with  air  as  pure  as 
the  spotless  snow.  We  are  inclined  to  exclaim:  "Give 
us  the  no-door  life  and  its  serene  advantages,  revealed 
to  savages  and  to  a  few  others  among  men!" 

This  is  the  fair  side  of  the  desert.  Nevertheless  we 
must  confess  that  our  weary  caravan  most  gladly 
entered  the  fruitful  fields  surrounding  the  first  city  of 
importance  along  the  Red  Fort,  as  its  builder  called  the 
Great  Wall  of  China.  Historical  interest  is  now 
awakened,  for  at  this  pass  Genghis  Khan  entered  the 
oasis  and  seized  Ninghia.  If  you  are  curious,  read 
the  life  of  Genghis  Khan.  It  is  more  informing  than 
Mr.  Toole's  account  of  the  Great  Wall:  "The  most  im- 
portant building  in  China  is  the  Great  Wall,  built  to 
keep  the  Tartars  out.  It  was  built  at  such  enormous 
expense  that  the  Chinese  never  got  over  it.  But  the 
Tartars  did.  And  the  way  they  accomplished  the  feat 
was  as  follows — one  went  first  and  t'others  went  arter." 

Whatever  opportunities  for  humor  the  Great  Wall 
offers,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  it  is  a  stupendous 
monument  to  China's  past  greatness  and  a  huge  index 
finger  pointing  to  a  greatness  still  to  come.  We  can- 
not believe  that  the  long  lethargy  of  the  Mongolians  is 
due  to  any  decay  of  their  vital  forces.  Are  they  truly 
a  nation  of  Rip  Van  Winkles?  There  may  yet  be  need 
for  our  western  workers,  too,  to  lie  dormant  for  centuries, 
in  order  to  recuperate  the  nervous  energies  of  the  pale 


A  melon  seller  never  cries  "  bitter  melons,"  nor  a 
wine  seller  "  thin  wine." 

pink  race.  Here  there  is  before  our  eyes  work  enough 
produced  by  these  wonderful  Mongolians  to  defy  com- 
parison with  anything  done  by  any  people  now  living 
on  our  planet. 

Ninghia  is  a  walled  city.  In  the  Chinese  empire 
walled  and  bastioned  cities  number  one  thousand  seven 
hundred,  some  put  it  at  two  thousand.1  The  Taipings 
captured  six  hundred  and  had  just  fairly  begun  their 
work.  As  for  the  total  number  of  cities  in  China,  that 
is  an  uncertain  point.  Nobody  knows  when  a  fish 
drinks  water,  and  no  one  can  tell  when  a  Chinaman 
speaks  the  whole  truth.  The  saying  is  funny  but  a  fact, 
that  no  foreigner  can  tell  the  truth  about  China  without 
lying. 

But,  however,  the  cities  lie,  densely  or  sparsely, 
throughout  the  country.  In  following  the  Long  Wall 
we  visit  five  important  centers  of  population.  In  a 
triangle  of  land  made  fertile  by  the  magic  of  man 
stands  the  "City  of  Quiet  Summer" — Ninghia  on  the 
maps.  About  this  wondrous  tract  of  ground,  turned 
into  an  oasis  by  grace  of  the  Yellow  River,  the  sturdy 
farmer  might,  if  he  knew  how,  misquote  the  Odyssey: 

"I  stretched  my  toil 
Through  regions  fattened  with  the  flow"  of  Hwoang  ho. 

1  "There  are  over  2,000  walled  cities  in  the  eighteen  provinces,  but  not 
one  fourth  of  them  have  resident  missionaries.  To  the  2,000  walled  cities 
another  3,000  unwalled  cities  or  towns  must  be  added,  and  to  these  cities 
and  towns  almost  numberless  villages  and  hamlets.  Among  the  teeming 
multitudes  of  these  cities,  towns  and  villages  there  is  but  one  Christian  to 
every  2,500  non-Christians.  Yet  it  may  be  said  that  every  place  is  now 
open  to  the  messengers  of  the  Gospel." — British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
of  China. 
10 


146  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

When  our  caravan  had  crossed  the  yellow  sand  and 
the  yellow  soil,  it  crossed  the  Yellow  River.  Soon  after 
two  tall  pagodas  appeared  on  the  green  plain.  One 
was  originally  erected  at  Cheng  Chow,  according  to  the 
legends,  but  one  night  it  forsook  that  site  and  moved 
over  to  here,  a  distance  of  one  thousand  li.  A  rather 
rapid  transit  for  a  pagoda — over  three  hundred  miles 
between  two  days.  A  competing  legend  declares  that 
thirteen  years  were  occupied  in  building  the  thirteen 
stories  of  the  pagoda  and  that  a  notorious  spider  then 
made  its  way  to  the  pinnacle,  a  spider  possessing  the 
uncanny  power  of  turning  the  shadow  of  the  pile 
toward  the  sun! 

The  small  north  gate  of  Ninghia  was  closed  forty 
years  ago  and  never  opened  because  the  keeper  for 
three  hundred  taels  opened  it  and  admitted  the  Mos- 
lems, who  destroyed  half  the  city  and  took  the  Taotai 
out  of  his  Yamen,  tied  him  to  a  horse's  tail  and  dragged 
him  through  the  city. 

And  now  for  an  extract  from  Black  Dog's  diary: 
"The  city  of  Ninghia  is  not  complete.  There  is  the 
Water-Fire  Pagoda.  ...  At  night  we  stayed  in  the 
Happy  Righteousness  Inn.  The  inn  governor,  by 
name  Wang,  belongs  to  the  temperance  society.  He 
explained  the  honorable  doctrine  of  the  temperance 
society  .  .  .  how  it  should  be  carried  out.  .  .  .  He 
bore  witness  that  the  proceedings  of  the  society  could 
be  seen  by  all  men,  and  they  know  the  root  of  the 
temperance  door.  When  a  man  talks  you  want  to  see 
his  deeds.    From  his  deeds  you  may  see  his  heart.    Thus 


The    Greal    Wall    of    China  Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 

The  South    Pagoda  of  Ninghia   City  of  the  Quid    Summer.     Native  skill 

and  artistic   design    united    to   produce    this   strictly   oriental    structure. 

Its   size   and    decorations   command    the   admiration    of   the    beholder. 

Like  all  pagodas  it   lias  an  odd   number  of  stories 


Without  the  dryandra  you  cannot  allure  the  phoenix. 

you  distinguish  the  straight  bottom  of  the  doctrine,  the 
is  and  the  not  is!" 

(Ah!  the  is  and  the  not  is!  How  long  and  how  often 
have  we  sought  in  vain  to  discover  the  "is  and  not  is." 
Black  Dog  is  a  philosopher.) 

The  Christians  also  have  a  temperance  organization 
called  the  "Abstain  from  Three  Poisons  Society."  The 
three  poisons  are  wine,  opium  and  tobacco.  A  temple 
to  piety  bears  this  wholesome  inscription :  "Temperance 
and  Long  Life — both  high."  Wu  Wang  the  ancient 
issued  an  announcement  as  to  wine:  "When  small  and 
great  states  come  to  ruin,  it  is  also  invariably  wine  that 
is  the  cause  of  the  evil."  The  emperor  threatened  with 
death  all  prominent  persons  who  failed  to  reform  their 
conduct.  The  curse  of  drink  is  of  ancient  origin,  and 
numerous  examples  of  its  disastrous  effects  are  to  be 
found  in  all  literature. 

A  native  medicine  man  now  made  a  seasonable  ap- 
pearance. But  my  distemper  is  one  which  yields  not 
to  lotions  or  potions;  it  demands  notions.  So  he  told 
me  tales.  His  tongue  is  intimate  with  stories.  The 
conquests  of  love  find  in  him  an  auspicious  chronicler. 
You  shall  hear  about  him.  But  first  we  must  away — to 
send  two  telegrams.  Yes,  even  on  the  Gobi  desert  there 
are  telegraph  stations.  The  wise  words  of  Max  Miiller, 
said  of  India,  are  even  more  emphatically  true  of  China. 
"You  will  find  yourself  between  an  immense  past  and 
an  immense  future."  At  half -past  seven  a  clerk  ushered 
us  into  a  "reception  room"  and  would  have  filled  the 
water  pipes  with  tobacco,  had  not  Black  Dog  pre- 


148  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

vented  him.  Two  "wires"  cost  4.99  taels.  The  oper- 
ator occupied  twenty  minutes  figuring  out  the  cost  of 
the  messages  and  weighing  the  money.  It  is  but  fair 
we  should  give  the  Chinese  the  telegraph,  since  they 
gave  us  the  compass  that  made  the  discovery  of  America 
possible.  For  gunpowder  and  printing  thank  the  Celes- 
tials, and  for  the  bad  divisions  of  an  hour  into  sixty 
minutes  vilify  the  Babylonians! 

Northeast  of  Ninghia  are  three  jutments  of  the 
Great  Wall  toward  the  Yellow  River.  The  main  line 
here  takes  an  angle  of  almost  ninety  degrees  and  passes 
on  to  the  southwest.  The  city  is  at  the  corner  of  the 
Wall.1  We  wonder,  shall  the  Great  Wall  have  an  ig- 
noble end  ?  Other  walls,  once  the  pride  of  capitals,  have 
fallen  into  the  itching  hands  of  vandals  and  been  made 
to  serve  purposes  remote  from  the  original.  Witness 
the  Turkish  stone-cutters  at  ancient  Laodicea  carving 
marble  pillars  into  tombstones,  and  fluted  columns, 
once  the  glory  of  temples,  into  troughs  for  donkeys ! 

These  Turks  of  Laodicea  are  descendants  of  the 
Tartars  walled  out  of  China.  This  leads  us  to  inquire, 
what  is  the  future  of  the  Great  Wall?  We  suggest,  and 
the  idea  will  meet  with  thine  approval,  thou  disciple  of 
Linnaeus,  that  the  Flowery  Empire  make  of  it  a  huge 
hanging-garden  of  sunflowers!  An  artificial  rampart 
of  blossoms,  excelling  the  lofty  flower  beds  of  Babylon! 
This  may  be  achieved  by  a  people  whose  ancestors  made 

1  "How  lovely   is  the  retiring  girl ! 
She  was  to  await  me  at  the  corner  of  the  Wall. 
Loving  her  and  not  seeing  her, 
I   scratch  my  head   and  am   in   perplexity." 

From  the  Shih  Ching  (Book  of  Poetry1). 


The    Greal     Wall    of  China 
Spurs  run  <>fl'  from  the  main  Line  of  the  Greal   \V;ill  to  protect   a  hill  over- 
looking the  east  and  west  structure.     The  ahove  is  one  of  many  between 
the   Yellow    Sea  and    the   Yellow    River 


All  human  affairs  are  my  affairs. 

the  Chentu  sand  plain  blossom  in  the  west,  and  whose 
neighbors,  the  Japanese,  in  the  east  planted  whole 
mountain  ranges  with  trees.  Let  us  hope  one  day  to 
ascend  in  a  balloon  and  view  a  flower  bed  twelve  hun- 
dred miles  long! 

Here  another  idea  strikes  us,  the  hanging  gardens  of 
Babylon  (which,  you  know,  were  built  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar for  his  Median  bride  Amytis)  were  the  first  sky- 
scrapers of  history — sky-scrapers  of  an  agricultural 
brand,  the  farmer  for  once  being  on  top!  Why  not 
extend  the  plan  in  modern  life?  One  day  we  may  find 
the  world  so  densely  populated  as  to  require  hanging 
or  many-storied  farms.  Can  you  not  see  the  picture  of 
our  gigantic  office  buildings  with  their  sides  knocked 
out  and  the  floors  fields  of  grain?  And  every  roof 
yielding  corn  and  every  sidewalk  growing  food 
creepers  ? 

This  city  of  Ninghia  is  four  thousand  feet  above  the 
tide,  and  the  climate  is  good.  But  the  fish  for  which  it 
is  famous  are  bad.  We  ate  some,  because  we  followed 
the  highly  recommended  but  dangerous  plan  of 
Thoreau,  who  when  asked  at  a  dinner  which  dish  he 
preferred  replied,  "The  nearest!"  Well,  we  ate  some 
and  then  fell  ill  for  several  days.  The  trouble  with 
people  always  is  that  they  do  not  take  proper  precau- 
tions and  then  the}7  blame  probably  the  climate.  You 
know  the  Irishman's  saying:  "They  eat,  they  drink,  they 
die,  and  then  they  write  home  and  say  the  climate  killed 
them!" 

We  look  forward  to  a  pleasant  summer,  riding  on 


150  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

these  high  plateaus  towards  the  home  of  the  Tibetans. 

To-morrow  the  quill  shall  write  again. 

P.S.  The  Great  Wall  has  just  reminded  me  of  a 
strange  custom  somewhere  in  India,  told  in  these  words : 
"When  my  husband  is  pleased  with  me  he  throws  a 
brick  at  me."  Here  is  a  fine  use  for  the  unnumbered 
bricks  in  the  Great  Wall!  If  you  like  statistics,  I  have 
worked  out  a  sum.  The  city  walls  of  China  somewhat 
resemble  the  Great  Wall.  Seventeen  hundred  cities, 
with  an  average  of  four  miles  of  wall,  would  aggre- 
gate six  thousand  eight  hundred  miles.  Add  to  this 
the  two  thousand  five  hundred  miles  of  the  Great  Wall, 
and  we  have  nine  thousand  three  hundred  miles  of  wall, 
or  more  than  the  diameter  of  the  earth! 

Ninghia,  To-morrow,  a.m. 
Greetings  from  the  Desert ! 

The  medicine  man  is  still  with  us.  About  him  lingers 
"the  breath  of  the  desert."  He  is  sad  and  portentious. 
His  eyes  are  like  those  of  a  discouraged  frog.  It  is 
lucky  for  him  his  father  was  born  first.  This  is  not  our 
vagrant  fancy.  He  reminds  us  of  the  desert  sunshine 
on  dusty  days — illuminated  darkness.  He  comes  from 
the  silent  sands.  (But  the  sands  are  not  silent;  theirs 
is  the  active  stillness  of  a  summer's  day.)  He  belongs 
to  solitudes. 

Here  is  one  of  the  legends  which  the  mysterious  man 
told  us  in  the  City  of  the  Quiet  Summer : 

"Chin's  famous  horse  was  coal  black,  with  a  red  mane 
and  tail  of  flame,  eyes  resembling  bright  lamps  and 
flashing  forth  terrible  light;  mouth  large  as  a  winnow- 


m  %  *  fat  m  m  isi 

Cutting  down  a  weed  is  not  so  good  as  uprooting  it. 

ing  fan,  teeth  "fiercely"  big,  ears  only  an  inch  long! 
He  ran  one  thousand  li  a  day.  The  small  ears  made 
speed  convenient.  The  pagoda  made  equal  time,  but 
traveled  at  night." 

(It  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  the  superstitious 
generation  have  invested  the  Great  Barrier  and  its  re- 
mote builder  with  all  sorts  of  powers  and  companions.) 

"The  horse  was  a  Dry  Dragon,  and  his  hair  pointed 
forward.  When  Chin  engaged  in  a  battle,  he  rode  the 
horse  between  the  opposing  lines,  whereupon  the  animal 
gave  a  horrible  screech,  leaped  into  the  air  toward  the 
enemy  and  then  dropped  on  the  enemy,  stamping  until 
the  earth  and  the  heavens  shook,  and  the  fire  wind 
sprang  up  and  swallowed  the  stupefied  warriors.  Chin 
thus  conquered  six  kingdoms  and  the  others  submitted." 

This  is  what  an  Ordos  scholar  called  "Long  Wall 
wild  talk."    Watch  the  mail  for  another  tale  to-morrow. 

Ninghia,  Day  after  To-morrow. 
The  Doleful  Traveler  salutes  Thee ! 

Attend!  The  medicine  man  tells  of  grain  in  a  secret 
granary  in  the  Great  Wall.  It  was  good  to  eat  and 
plant  when  eight  hundred  years  old ! 

"Times  of  peace  and  anarchy  ordained  by  heaven 
are  not  constant.  Great  victories  are  not  continual. 
Exceeding  good  things  will  certainly  perish.  From  of 
old  this  is  a  general  principle.  However,  in  the  reign  of 
T'ung  Chih,  Ninghia  was  confused.  The  Mohamme- 
dans rebelled  twice.  The  second  rebellion  was  under 
the  intrepid  fearless  leader  Tang  Men,  who,  traveling 


152  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

by  Lan  Chow  and  Liang  Chow,  caused  the  people  to 
eat  bitterness.  He  fired  the  temples,  destroyed  the 
gods,  seized  the  silver,  drove  off  the  cattle,  burned  the 
houses  and  robbed  the  inhabitants  of  their  sons  and 
daughters.  For  three  years  the  fields  were  not  culti- 
vated, the  aged  died  in  the  ditches,  men  ate  men,  dogs 
ate  dogs,  and  there  were  no  travelers! 

"Now,  in  the  tenth  year  of  the  reign  a  star  of  salva- 
tion appeared.  It  was  a  strange  incident.  In  a  gorge 
of  the  mountains  lived  Liu  Chi,  who,  having  no  elder 
or  younger  brothers,  was  the  only  son.  His  mother 
was  sixty,  his  wife  was  thirty,  and  his  daughter  was 
younger  than  either  of  the  parents!  The  famine  be- 
came worse  and  worse  and  the  rebels  more  and  more 
active.  The  people  fled  to  the  cities.  Liu  Chi,  weak- 
ened by  hunger  and  unable  to  carry  his  three  women, 
with  their  little  bound  feet,  thought  over  the  situation, 
but  could  not  fix  his  mind.  Just  then  a  black  dog  came 
into  the  courtyard.  He  killed  it,  cooked  it,  ate  it  and 
said:  'To-day  we  have  eaten  the  black  dog.  To-morrow?' 

"Perplexed,  he  determined  to  kill  his  wife  and 
daughter  and  carry  his  mother  to  the  city.  Now,  near 
the  Great  Wall  was  a  dried-up  well.  He  told  his  wife 
and  daughter  that  in  the  well  was  a  sheep.  They  went 
with  him,  and  while  they  were  looking  into  the  well  he 
put  forth  all  his  strength  and  threw  them  in.  He  then 
took  portions  of  the  earthen  core  of  the  Long  Wall  and 
proceeded  to  bury  them.  As  the  earth  fell  away  a  great 
surprise  awaited  him — a  door,  on  which  was  an  in- 
scription: 'In  the  third  year  of  Tang  Tsao,1  the  ninth 

1  We  cannot  find  this  name  among  the  emperors  or  their  year-titles.     The 


-WUfP-wUftf  153 

A  word  may  make  a  state  and  a  word  may  mar  it. 

moon,  a  lucky  day.'  .  .  .  Then  Liu  Chi  saw  the  golden 
grain,  stored  eight  hundred  years  before  by  a  wealthy 
man,  who  purchased  it  for  only  three  cash  a  bushel. 
Then  Liu  Chi,  remembering  the  ancient  saying,  'The 
grain  of  Liang  Chow  is  good  for  one  thousand  years,' 
held  the  mouth-to-mouth  saying  true.  The  reason  for 
hiding  the  grain  was  this.  A  tribe  of  barbarians  outside 
the  Long  Wall  were  dangerous  and  the  wise,  wealthy 
man  was  providing  against  a  surprise. 

"In  the  spring  Liu  Chi  distributed  the  grain.  It 
was  planted  and  yielded  heavily  and  the  famine  was 
over." 

All  because  Liu  Chi  liked  his  Ma!  The  thread  fol- 
lows the  needle. 

Ninghia,  Second  Day  after  To-morrow. 
My  dear  Young  Lady  of  the  West! 

The  salutation  is  admirable.  Once  upon  a  time  there 
lived  a  Chinese  "Royal  Lady  of  the  West"  (we  are  in 
the  "West"  now.)  She  grew  peaches  in  her  garden 
that  ripened  once  in  three  thousand  years,  and  con- 
ferred immortality  upon  those  who  ate  them.  Please 
raise  peaches! 

This  letter  finds  itself  growing  in  the  Lucky  Public 
Inn.  Which  is  lucky,  the  inn  or  the  public — who  do 
not  stop  there?  As  early  as  the  fifth  century  B.C.  an 
innkeeper,  by  the  name  of  Ch'in,  received  a  communica- 
tion from  an  old  customer  who  presented  him  with  a 
mysterious  drug,  of  which  he  was  to  take  a  dose  every 

tenth  year  of  T'ung  Chih  is  1871,  800  years  before  this  takes  us  to  the 
reign  of  Shen  Tsung  of  the  Sung  dynasty. 


154  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

day  for  thirty  days.  After  that  he  would  know  "the 
nature  of  things"!  By  experience  we  have  learned  the 
"nature  of  things"  that  crawl  and  walk  and  run  and 
bite,  particularly  at  night.  We  would  like  to  supply 
this  innkeeper  with  the  drug  so  that  he  might  know  the 
"nature  of  things."  We  will  away  from  insignificant 
matters  to  a  subject  of  profound  and  permanent 
moment. 

"The  Yellow  River  protects  Ninghia!"  It  certainly 
protects  nothing  else.  This  then  is  a  distinction.  There 
are  pagodas  here,  tall  ones,  square  ones,  brick  ones. 
Rugs  are  manufactured  in  Ninghia,  rugs  of  design  and 
color.  Sixty  thousand  lambs'  skins  are  exported  each 
year,  one  thousand  two  hundred  tan  of  licorice  root, 
produced  in  the  surrounding  country,  is  collected  in 
numerous  ox  carts  and  sent  eastward  to  the  sea.  This 
one-time  capital  of  the  province  contains  fact  and  fic- 
tion to  fit  the  fancy  of  historian  and  novelist.  West  is 
the  Ala  Shan  range,  and  beyond  are  the  wide  wastes  of 
Tartary,  where  the  Gobi  stretches  out  its  embalming 
sands  over  cities  once  alive  with  human  activity,  in  the 
days  when  patient  irrigation  kept  droughts  at  bay.  Is 
it  not  curious  to  reflect  that  the  countries  which  have 
harbored  most  of  the  ancient  civilizations  are  regions 
of  deficient  rainfall  and  compulsory  irrigation?  Wit- 
ness Egypt,  Persia,  Arabia,  and  China,  all  contiguous 
to  deserts. 

On  the  fringe  of  this  desolate  desert  dwells  the  noto- 
rious Prince  Tuan,  who  led  the  bad  "Boxer"  business. 
Here   he    is   expiating   his    crimes.      But    from   such 


m  t$  #  m  t§  ^  l55 

An  honest  heart  begets  an  honest  face. 

thoughts  the  traveler  gladly  turns  to  contemplate  better 
things. 

In  the  City  of  the  Quiet  Summer  lives  a  lone  "white" 
lady.  Her  brother,  his  wife  and  child  were  foully 
murdered  on  the  plains  of  Mongolia.  Her  husband's 
brother,  his  wife  and  children  also  met  an  untimely  fate 
as  did  other  friends.  By  this  time  a  gloom  envelopes 
your  kindly  mind.  But  the  Lone  Lady  of  Ninghia  is 
the  opposite  of  gloomy.  She  laughs  easily,  heartily, 
frequently,  and  is  full  of  fun.  She  plays  and  sings  for 
the  Mohammedans,  doctors  the  families  of  mandarins, 
drinks  tea  with  the  cultured  Chinese,  and  preaches  the 
gospel  to  everybody.  Ah!  We  have  failed  to  say  she 
belongs  to  the  sacred  order  of  missionaries. 

The  unconscious  devotion  of  this  Lone  Lady  to  the 
needs  of  humanity  and  to  the  teaching  of  her  Master, 
whom  she  reverently  calls  "Christ,"  is  worthy  of  all 
praise  and  beyond  it.  Devotion  without  advertisement ! 
This  modern  Tabitha  does  not  know  that  she  is  heroic, 
devoted,  sublime! 

Here  is  a  queen  who  deserves  a  palace  for  herself  and 
her  work.  Three  thousand  pounds  of  "the  assistant 
god"  (as  money  is  called  in  Hindi),  invested  here  by 
those  who  believe  in  Christian  mission  work,  would  be 
a  good  investment.  Thirty  thousand  people  live  in 
Ninghia,  and  thousands  more  round  about,  but  this  is 
the  only  mission  station  at  the  apex  of  this  fertile 
triangle.  Let  some  munificent  person  erect  a  memorial 
building  here  and  support  it  until  it  becomes  self -sup- 


156 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


porting!  The  work  now  being  done  is  admirable,1  and 
the  Lone  Lady  is  waiting  for  companions  to  assist  her. 
We  met  a  big  rug  manufacturer,  who  was  a  poor  man 
when  he  came  to  the  Lone  Lady  for  medicine  to  kill  the 
desire  for  "foreign  smoke."     He  was  cured  and  ever 


Double-pig — Head  at  each  end  of  the  body — brings  famine.    Need  a  wall  to  keep 
them  out. 

since  has  prospered,  until  now  he  employs  many  persons 
in  the  making  of  beautiful  rugs.  A  sugar  loaf  is  sweet 
on  all  sides,  and  Christianity  benefits  the  whole  man  in 
his  relations. 

Before  continuing  our  journey  we  called  to  bid  the 
Lone  Lady  good-bye.  As  always,  so  then  her  old  peo- 
ple were  with  her.  We  urged  her  away  for  a  rest.  She 
replied,  "The  Lord  will  lead!"  She  believes  it.  We 
lifted  our  hats  and  said:  "Lone  Lady  of  the  Quiet  Sum- 
mer, fare  thee  well!" 

And  now,  Young  Lady  of  the  Noisy  Winter,  fare 
thee  well! 

1  The  following  figures  of  the  total  distribution  of  the  Bible  in  China, 
which  have  been  collected  with  great  care,  may  he  given  here:  Total  circu- 
lation of  Scriptures  to  the  end  of  1907,  35,799,672. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by    \V.    M.    Belcher 

One  of   the    two    large    Pagodas   of   Liangchow,    Kansu.       This    beautiful 

bit  of  scenery   is   immediately   in    front   of  the    Buddhist    Convent  of 

Nuns 


CHAPTER  XII 

Genghis  Khan,  the  Red  Raider,  who  passed  through 
the  Great  Wall  at  Ninghia 

Soon  at  the  head  of  myriads,  blind  and  fierce 
As  hooded  falcons,  through  the  universe 
I'll  sweep  my  darkening  desolating  way, 
Weak  man  my  instrument,  curst  man  my  prey. 

Among  the  mighty  Mongol  men  bloody  Temujin, 
Genghis  Khan,  was  first  but  not  last.  After  Genghis 
the  Marauder  came  Kublai  the  Civilizer.  These  two 
complicated,  convulsive  characters  were  to  the  Mongols 
what  Pike's  Peak  and  Long's  Peak  are  to  the  Rocky 
Mountain  lovers,  most  distinctly  seen  and  longest  on 
the  receding  landscape.  In  the  whole  range  and  plain 
of  Mongol  history  there  are  not  other  two  such  cragf  ul, 
strong,  and  bloody1  leaders  of  the  men  of  Mongolia  as 
Genghis  and  Kublai:  great  Khans  of  the  East.  But 
Kublai,  however  interesting  and  important  in  himself, 
with  the  Great  Wall  has  little  to  do ;  we  pay  our  respects 
to  him  and  bow  him  out.    Genghis,  forward! 

At  times  regarded  by  friend  and  foe  as  supernatural, 
the  words  of  Genghis  Khan  wrought  like  magic  and  his 
presence  was  as  potent  as  a  legion  of  loyal  bowmen. 
He  shed  a  lake  of  human  blood — crimson  lake;  he  had 
what   Horace   called   "gigantic   boldness," — and   what 

1  Kublai  was,  comparatively  speaking,  a  mild  and  temperate  ruler — 
wonderfully  so  for  a  grandson  of  Genghis. 

157 


158  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

evil  tendency  did  he  not  possess?  This  Mongol  monster 
massacred  millions  of  men  and  stands  to-day  the  great- 
est slayer  or  wholesale  murderer  of  human  history. 

A  man  of  elemental  fury,  violent  and  savage  beyond 
the  sweep  of  twentieth  century  imagination,  he  let  slip 
such  dogs  of  war  as  never  before  or  since  have  barked 
to  battle.  His  thought  by  day  and  dream  by  night  was 
personal  power.  He  massed  his  mounted  headmen, 
and  with  terrible  impetuosity  and  irresistible  charge 
destroyed  any  tribes  or  peoples  who  dared  resist  him. 
His  bloody  career  did  not  end  until  he  had  ruthlessly 
slain  as  many  people  as  now  live  in  all  New  England, 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  Of  human  blood  he 
shed  23,000,000  gallons — enough,  if  pumped  into  the 
mains  and  pipes  of  New  Orleans,  to  supply  that  city 
for  twenty- four  hours;  if  poured  into  the  channel  of 
Niagara  it  would  require  fifteen  seconds,  as  a  crimson 
cataract,  to  pass  the  falls.  He  let  enough  human  gore 
to  float  the  largest  modern  battleship.  And  while  he 
did  not  spill  sufficient  blood  to  paint  the  planet  red  he 
approached  that  feat  more  nearly  than  any  other  one 
of  the  sons  of  men. 

Genghis  Khan  was  a  masterful  man  whose  sagacity 
concentrated  into  a  supreme  selfishness.  Nothing  found 
in  the  course  of  his  progress  was  too  sacred  for  vigorous 
and  even  violent  demolition.  In  comparison  with  Gen- 
ghis Khan,  the  faithless,  bloody  Napoleon  was  a  saint. 

But  Genghis  was  more  than  a  human  revolver,  he 
was  an  epoch!  To  get  the  date  of  bloody  Genghis 
Khan,  set  back  the  time  lock  to  1162.    As  you  swing 


»  m  w  ^  w  «  ®  ^j        l59 

Speak  of  Tsao  Tsao  and  Tsao  Tsao  appears. 

the  globe  around  to  reach  his  place,  catch  a  glimpse  of 
hapless  Henry  of  Anjou  in  England  engaged  in  his 
fitful  fight  with  the  Church,  in  which  the  leading  popu- 
lar incidents  are  the  murder  of  Archbishop  Thomas 
a  Becket  and  the  scourging  of  the  king  by  the  Canter- 
bury monks.  Over  on  the  mainland  is  the  keen  Kaiser 
Frederick  Redbeard,  also  occupied  fighting  the  pope's 
authority.  Across  the  Baltic  the  Norsemen  are  re- 
luctantly settling  down  to  their  new  faith,  changing  the 
hammer  of  Thor  for  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  drinking 
wassail  to  the  Lord.  The  great  military  orders  are 
busy  offering  baptism  or  death  in  Prussia.  A  new  city 
has  just  arisen  at  Moscow,  destined  to  supersede  the 
old  Russian  capital  of  Kieff,  but  unlike  the  latter, 
Christian  from  the  start,  with  all  the  gorgeousness  of 
Byzantine  worship. 

In  northern  latitudes  Moscow  is  the  last  outpost  of 
anything  that  could  be  called  civilization.  But  a 
southerly  sweep  down  the  Volga  past  the  Caspian  Sea 
encounters  another  great  empire,  founded  on  the  debris 
of  ruined  states  which  had  occupied  the  valleys  of  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris.  This  fertile  soil  once  tilled  by 
Assyrians  and  Babylonians  with  their  documents  of 
brick,  overrun  by  the  wandering  Medes,  graced  by 
Persian  art,  leavened  with  Greek  versatility,  held  down 
by  Parthian  cavalry,  rejuvenated  by  a  Persian  renais- 
sance, is  now  in  the  power  of  the  Muslims.  At  Baghdad 
the  caliphs  hold  their  court,  made  famous  once  by  Aaron 
the  Just,  immortalized  in  the  Arabian  Nights.  Here 
Omar  Khayyam  is  writing  his  wonderful  poems  with 


160  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

their  gloomy  views  of  life,  only  brightened  by  the 
influence  of  wine  and  women.  One  of  his  stanzas  is 
unconsciously  prophetic  of  Genghis  Khan: 

Ah,  Love,  could  you  and  I  with  Fate  conspire 
To  grasp  this  sorry  scheme  of  things  entire, 
Would  we  not  shatter  it  to  bits,  and  then 
Remould  it  nearer  to  the  heart's  desire? 

To  the  northeast  lies  a  great  empire  of  the  Khoras- 
mians  with  such  mighty  cities  as  Bokhara  and  Samar- 
cand.  This,  too,  is  ruled  by  Muslims,  one  king  bearing 
the  picturesque  name  of  Aladdin,  though  this  has 
been  softened  and  Gallicized  from  his  religious  title 
of  Allah-ed  din-Muhammed.  This  "Faithful  Servant 
of  God"  has  extended  his  power  from  the  borders  of 
Syria  to  the  Indus,  and  from  the  Persian  gulf  north- 
wards to  the  Jaxartes,  flowing  into  the  Aral  Sea. 

Farther  to  the  east  is  Hindostan,  where  also  the 
Muslims  are  rooting  themselves  under  Malimud  of 
Ghazni.  Here  the  beliefs  of  the  people  are  being 
molded  anew  by  the  teachings  of  Ramanand,  bringing 
from  the  Christians  of  Cochin  a  doctrine  of  faith 
destined  to  raise  the  religion  of  the  natives  and  teach 
them  not  to  fear  their  gods,  but  to  love  and  heartily 
obey.  Up  the  Himalayan  slopes  in  the  mysterious 
mountain  land  of  Tibet,  the  Buddhist  monks  are  taking 
over  the  externals  of  worship  from  the  Christian 
church  of  St.  Thomas,  which  has  outposts  all  through 
mid- Asia.  And  within  the  flowery  land  of  the  central 
kingdom  of  China,  the  Taoists  are  manufacturing  pills 
for  immortality. 


m  sg  m  n  i*  a  @  w        l61 

Happiness  and  misery  are  not  fated  but  self-sought 

In  the  great  sweep  of  Asia  between  China,  India, 
Persia  and  Russia,  of  civilization  there  is  little.  Here 
rove  hordes  of  hardy  horsemen,  called  indifferently 
Tatars  or  Mongols.  Of  these  "Tahtars"  the  Chinese 
stand  in  fear.1 

Fortunately  for  the  Mongols,  the  devitalizing  com- 
forts met  in  Cathay, — as  China  was  called  after  the 
Khitai — were  not  transported  out  into  the  wilds.  There 
the  herds  of  horses  constitute  all  wealth;  food,  fuel, 
clothes  and  homes,  all  come  from  the  animals.  The 
milk  of  the  mares  is  fermented  into  kumiss,  the  staple 
beverage;  the  dung  of  the  herd  provides  warmth;  the 
hides  and  hair  are  turned  into  leather  and  felt  for 
clothes  and  tents. 

Just  as  a  thousand  years  earlier  the  rich  Roman  em- 
pire attracted  the  hunger  and  greed  of  the  tempestuous 
Teutons,  who  rushed  at  the  Roman  walls  and  tried  to 
burst  into  the  fertile  fields  behind;  so  the  wild,  warlike 
Tatars  are  always  ready  to  follow  any  great  leader  and 
precipitate  themselves  with  terrific  fury  on  the  nearest 
prey. 

The  Christian  Patriarch  of  Babylon  in  his  uneasy 
seat  at  Baghdad  had  not  been  forgetful  of  these  wan- 

1  Central  Asia  was  the  home  of  two  great  allied  races,  the  Turks  and 
the  Mongols.  Distant  cousins,  the  Finns,  Lapps,  and  Hungarians,  had 
migrated  to  Europe  already,  where  they  still  remain  as  undigested  morsels. 
The  Turks  were  pressing  westward  by  a  more  southerly  route.  The 
Mongols  had  not  yet  risen  to  great  eminence,  though  the  Chinese  had 
experienced  the  ravages  of  a  particular  tribe,  which  they  called  Ta-ta  or 
Tahtar.  The  Chinese  name  for  the  Mongols  is  Meng-ku.  "Tartar"  became 
the  general  name  for  all  the  nomadic  tribes,  embracing  on  the  one  hand  the 
Huns,  Turks,  Ouigours  and  Mongols,  and  on  the  other  the  Khitans, 
Tunguses,  "Ku-chens,  from  whom  the  Manchus  are  descended. 

11 


162  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

derers.  Frequent  embassies  had  gone  forth  from 
Persia  into  the  Mongol  wilds.  One  visited  the  Uigurs, 
and  reduced  their  uncouth  language  to  writing.  The 
Keraits  had  been  won  to  the  gospel,  and  their  pictur- 
esque prince  was  of  sufficient  force  for  his  fame  to 
filter  into  Europe,  where  he  gave  rise  to  the  myth  of 
Prester  John.  All  the  savage  Tatar  tribes  had  a  vague 
belief  in  one  god,  but  many  worshiped  with  idols, 
made,  like  much  else,  of  felted  hair. 

Such  is  the  scene  of  our  story.  Now  for  the  dramatis 
personae.  The  metropolis  of  Mongolia  was  Karakoram, 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  south  of  the  modern 
Irkutsk.  Here  dwelt  the  real  Prester  John,  known 
locally  as  Wang  Khan,  ruling  over  the  Black  Tatars, 
Kara  Khitai.  These  included  a  clan  of  some  forty 
thousand  families,  infesting  the  district  between  the 
Amur  and  the  Great  Wall  of  China,  governed  by  a 
chief  called  Yezonkai  Behadr,  "The  Ninth  Hero." 

The  ancestry  of  Yezonkai  is  vague,  but  there  are  two 
notable  touches  of  genius  in  the  pedigree  prepared  by 
their  Royal  College  of  Heralds  for  his  descendants; 
apparently  in  Asia  long  ago,  just  as  in  London  to-day, 
a  genealogy  can  be  faked  for  any  one  with  sufficient 
dollars.  According  to  these  George  Washingtons,  a 
certain  Budantar,  eight  generations  back,  was  the  off- 
spring of  a  widow  unassisted  by  any  mate.  And  the 
poets,  who  are  always  licensed  to  draw  on  their  imagi- 
nation, make  the  ultimate  father  of  the  tribe  a  great 
blue  wolf:  this  beats  Romulus  and  Remus  fairly  out  of 
court. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  swear  an  affidavit  that  these 


*j«*»a»0#A         163 

Treat  self  severely,  others  leniently 

stories  are  believed  before  the  reader  may  proceed  far- 
ther. But  he  is  entitled  and  requested  to  accept  the 
statement  that  in  1162  Yezonkai  became  the  happy 
father  of  baby  Temujin.1  He  was  born  on  the  shore  of 
the  river  Amur,  immediately  after  a  bloody  battle,  and 
with  clotted  blood  in  his  hand,  the  son  of  a  stolen 
woman. 

It  is  customary  in  out-of-the-way  parts  for  fairies  to 
come  to  a  birth  festival,  and  the  nearest  that  could  be 
done  here  was  to  produce  an  astrologer,  who  called  him- 
self Son  of  Heaven,  and  won  the  heart  of  the  happy 
sire  by  predicting  that  the  new  arrival  should  become  a 
great  warrior  and  have  a  wonderful  career.  This  was 
a  safe  sort  of  promise,  for  the  most  sanguine  would  not 
prophesy  beauty  for  a  Tatar,  and  academic  distinctions 
were  not  valued  in  those  parts;  besides,  some  twenty 
years  might  reasonably  elapse  before  any  fulfilment 
could  be  demanded,  and  in  a  score  of  years  there  was 
ample  time  to  hedge,  or  to  escape.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  magician  priest  soon  died  and  his  son  was  appointed 
to  train  the  lad,  and  did  it  on  the  most  approved  lines  of 
physical  exercise  and  athletics.  Marvelous  tales  are  re- 
lated of  his  boyhood  days.  The  future  Genghis  Khan 
by  nine  years  of  age  was  a  daring,  dashing  youngster 
who  could  ride  a  rapid  horse  without  using  the  reins 

1  Temujin,  or  the  Emperor  Genghis  Khan,  had  four  sons  of  importance: 
Yughi,  who  rode  in  a  pie  (whose  son  Baku  ravaged  half  Europe),  Jagatai, 
Agotai,  the  second  emperor  (whose  son  Kuyuk  became  third  emperor), 
and  Tuli.  Tuli  had  three  sons  to  be  reckoned  with,  Mangu  the  fourth 
emperor,  Kublai  the  fifth  emperor,  who  transmitted  the  power  to  his  chil- 
dren, and  Hulaku  the  conqueror  of  Baghdad.  The  five  emperors  ruled 
during  the  thirteenth  century. 


164  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

and  shoot  arrows  before,  behind,  to  the  right  and  to  the 
left.  He  also  had  visions.  "Temujin  dreamed  one 
night  that  his  arms  grew  out  to  a  prodigious  length, 
and  that  he  took  a  sword  in  each  of  them,  and  stretched 
them  out  to  see  how  far  they  would  reach,  pointing  one 
eastward,  the  other  westward.  In  the  morning  he  re- 
lated this  dream  to  his  ambitious  mother.  She  inter- 
preted it  to  him  that  he  was  to  become  a  great  conqueror, 
whose  exploits  history  would  record." 

So  precocious  was  he,  that  at  the  age  of  thirteen  the 
future  king  of  kings  took  a  wife,  and  in  two  years 
accumulated  a  pair  of  children.  Heavier  responsibili- 
ties were  soon  thrust  on  him.  His  father  quarreled 
with  neighboring  tribes  behind  the  Great  Wall  and  was 
captured.  He  escaped,  but  soon  died.  He  died  of 
poison  and  a  civil  war  followed.  Confronted  by  a  con- 
dition rather  than  a  theory,  the  likely  lad  of  fourteen 
proved  himself  a  wise  general,  defeated  the  rebels  and 
was  acclaimed  supreme  chief.  On  the  strength  of  this 
promotion,  bloody  Temujin  invested  in  a  second  wife. 
While  he  was  absent  asserting  his  authority,  the  beauti- 
ful bride  was  carried  off  to  Karakoram  and  handed 
over  to  Wang  Khan.  The  young  chief  Temujin,  re- 
turning from  his  furious  foray,  sent  for  his  new  wife, 
who  was  promptly  expressed  to  him.  On  the  way  she 
gave  birth  to  a  wee  laddie,  and  as  cradles  were  scarce 
they  made  a  mass  of  dough  and  embedded  the  little 
morsel,  so  that  he  should  be  saved  from  the  jolts  of  the 
journey  in  the  cart.  The  chief  welcomed  the  youngster 
in  the  pie  and  decided  that  being  thus  early  invested 
with  the  dough,  he  must  be  well  bred. 


+  £****&  165 

An  inch  of  gold  cannot  buy  an  inch  of  time. 

It  was  perhaps  on  this  occasion  that  the  poet  laureate 
produced  the  following  effusion,  of  which  a  distorted 
version  is  current  in  western  lands : 

Sing   a   song   of   sixpence, 

A  pocket  full  of  rye, 
A  fat  little  Tartar  boy 

Made  up  into  a  pie. 
When  the  pie  was  opened, 

The  boy  began  to  sing; 
Was  not  that  a  funny  dish 

To  bring  to  Temujin? 

But  though  he  illustrated  his  manly  prowess,  bloody 
Temujin's  youth  proved  still  a  difficulty,  and  he  at 
last  handed  over  the  management  of  the  tribe  to  his 
uncle  and  his  mother,  starting  off  himself  with  an  escort 
of  six  thousand  warriors  and  desperadoes  for  the  court 
of  his  suzerain.  With  him  the  bonds  of  friendship 
were  tightened  by  adding  to  the  wives  a  daughter  of 
Wang  Khan,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  another  chief, 
who  wanted  her.  The  disappointed  suitor  hatched  a 
conspiracy  to  get  rid  of  the  upstart  and  of  the  ungrate- 
ful king.  In  the  true  oriental  fashion,  of  which  we 
get  a  glimpse  in  Abraham's  proceedings,  the  plotters 
slew  a  horse,  an  ox  and  a  dog,  and  imprecated  on  them- 
selves a  death  of  like  fashion  should  they  be  untrue  to 
their  engagements. 

At  first  the  scheme  succeeded,  the  capital  was  taken, 
and  the  king  put  to  flight.  But  the  genius  of  the 
bloody  chief  Temujin  cast  a  spell  over  his  followers, 


166  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

and  little  by  little  the  cunning  conspirators  were  over- 
come in  battle  and  out-maneuvered  in  counsel. 

When  the  lad  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-two 
danger  seemed  over.  To  celebrate  the  peace,  a  pair 
of  marriages  was  arranged ;  a  boy  of  the  chief  wedded 
a  daughter  of  the  king,  and  a  girl  of  the  chief  wedded 
a  son  of  the  king.  The  boy  and  the  girl  could  not  be 
more  than  nine  years  old,  while  the  daughter  and  the 
son  were  older  than  their  father-in-law. 

It  would  appear  also  that  the  rules  of  the  Church 
were  neglected  on  this  occasion.  Wife  number  three 
became  sister-in-law  to  her  stepson  and  her  stepdaugh- 
ter; the  young  hero  became  brother-in-law  to  his  son- 
in-law  and  his  daughter-in-law,  his  daughter  and  his 
son;  and  various  other  interesting  consequences  follow 
which  can  be  worked  out  at  leisure  by  the  inquiring 
mind. 

Family  jars  are  notorious,  and  it  was  after  these 
complicated  matrimonial  alliances  and  a  gift  of  jars  of 
mare's  milk  that  the  two  fathers  fell  out.  Wang  Khan 
decided  to  crush  the  rising  chief,  but  his  plans  were 
betrayed.  Temujin  fiercely  fought  two  great  battles, 
smote  down  all  his  enemies  and  made  himself  undis- 
puted ruler  in  the  northeast.  Temujin  marked  the 
victory  by  mounting  the  skull  of  Wang  Khan  in  silver 
and  using  it  as  a  drinking  cup. 

At  Karakoram  bloody  Temujin  now  proceeded  to 
organize  his  government  and  his  army.  Such  discipline 
as  he  introduced  was  new  to  the  Tatars,  with  com- 
panies, regiments  and  brigades,  all  subjected  to  regular 
drill,  which  gave  the  legions  terrible  efficiency ;  military 


—     r    - 


eg  a  m  ®  #  m  m  m 

A  biting  dog   does  not  show  his  teeth. 

forts  and  roads  were  constructed  by  labor;  army  sup- 
plies were  stored  up.  It  was  decreed  that  the  people 
should  labor  one  day  a  week  on  public  works  such  as 
roads,  fortifications,  canals,  et  cetera.  Then  came  codes 
of  law,  division  into  provinces,  establishment  of  a  postal 
service  and  the  machinery  of  civil  government.  And 
when  all  the  new  constitution  had  been  outlined,  a  great 
Constitutional  Convention  was  summoned  to  ratify  and 
to  elect  the  first  king.  No  American  ring  could  better 
hocus-pocus  the  people  into  thinking  that  they  were 
free  to  elect,  and  that  no  machine  would  dictate  to 
them. 

Of  course,  there  was  only  one  nomination,  and  by 
acclamation  bloody  Temu  j  in  was  installed.  Out  stepped 
a  hoary  old  priest,  claiming  to  be  inspired,  and  de- 
clared that  he  was  commissioned  by  Allah  to  predict 
that  the  new  ruler  should  quickly  conquer  the  world 
and  found  an  everlasting  empire.  In  token  of  this  he 
hailed  Temu  j  in  by  the  Chinese  title  of  Ch'eng-shih, 
Perfect  Warrior,  while  all  the  princes  came  and  paid 
homage.  His  Mongol  title  from  now  on  was  Genghis 
(Mighty)  Khan,  signifying  King  of  Kings.  This 
"great  merger  of  interests"  occurred  about  1206,  a 
few  years  before  the  English  barons  made  John  sign 
the  charter;  the  hero  was  now  in  the  prime  of  life, 
some  44  years  old ;  at  the  height  of  his  wisdom  he  issued 
an  edict  commanding  all  to  believe  in  one  supreme  God. 

As  Genghis  entered  on  active  life  at  the  age  of  13, 
his  school  days  had  been  short;  and  it  will  not  be  sur- 
prising under  the  circumstances  that  spelling  was  not 


168  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

a  strong  point  with  him.  So  if  any  reference  is  found 
to  Genghis,  Gengis,  Zengis  or  Jinghiz  Khan,  it  will 
be  understood  that  the  same  gentleman  is  intended. 
After  all,  did  not  Shakespeare  pass  under  various 
aliases,  to  say  nothing  of  epithets  such  as  the  Bard  of 
Avon  and  Divine  William? 

Speaking  of  spelling:  the  Uigur  Tatars  had  been 
converted  to  Christianity  and  had  their  own  version  of 
the  Bible.  Such  civilization  in  the  way  of  letters  as 
Genghis  ever  acquired,  came  to  him  from  them. 

In  the  midst  of  the  lake  of  blood  he  was  fast  forming 
Genghis  Khan  had  time  for  else.  The  "King  of 
Kings,"  a  genius  in  both  war  and  religion,  established 
a  custom  later  adopted  by  the  Mormons,  that  of  marry- 
ing for  the  dead,  or  even  marrying  the  dead.  Two 
families  having  no  living  offspring,  but  desiring  to  be 
made  legally  one,  could  do  so  by  marrying  the  dead  son 
of  one  family  to  the  dead  daughter  of  the  other.  Gen- 
ghis Khan,  who  claimed  to  exercise  authority  in  both 
worlds,  declared  the  wedding  ceremony  solemnized  by 
the  parents  binding  in  the  Land  of  the  Spirits! 

First  bloody  Genghis  investigated  Cathay,  and  this 
proved,  as  ever,  an  inviting  prey  to  human  vulture. 
He  overcame  all  difficulties,  passed  the  Great  Wall, 
and  overran  China.  But  even  Napoleon  at  Moscow 
found  it  easier  to  defeat  armies  and  capture  cities,  than 
to  hold  the  people  permanently  in  subjection,  or  even 
to  secure  an  honorable  peace.  If  the  European  powers 
learned  this  early  in  the  century  at  Peking,  Genghis 
Khan  had  some  experience  at  the  same  place. 

Three   great  hordes   swept  in  over  the   Tatar  half 


&£#*-#I»l***-*W       169 

A  royal  minister  will  not  serve  two  dynastic  kings, 
nor  a  virtuous  woman  wear  two  wedding  rings. 

of  China,  crushing  all  resistance,  nor  did  Genghis  him- 
self stop  till  he  had  crossed  Shantung  past  Wei-hai-wei, 
and  halted  where  in  after  days  the  German  archangel 
should  withdraw  his  mailed  fist  from  the  beehive  of 
Kiao-chao.  Twice  was  this  operation  repeated,  and  on 
the  second  occasion  the  few  cities  which  held  out  at 
first  were  captured.  But  gory  Genghis  had  no  thought 
of  establishing  himself  within  the  Great  Wall,  nor  even 
of  placing  a  vassal  king  to  pay  him  tribute.  Instead  of 
a  yearly  dish  of  golden  eggs,  he  preferred  one  gor- 
ging meal  on  roast  goose,  and  so  ravaged  without  dis- 
crimination. Then  he  withdrew  to  his  own  elevated 
plains  away  in  the  heart  of  the  continent,  with  a  pair 
of  Chinese  princesses  and  a  few  hundred  girls  for  him- 
self, besides  abundant  plunder  for  his  army. 

Flowing  back,  obedient  to  the  call  "Westward,  Ho!" 
he  dealt  with  some  mutinous  tribes  near  the  headwaters 
of  the  Yenisei,  and  looked  around  for  additional  ad- 
ventures. In  those  days  there  was  no  Captain  Mahan 
to  point  out  the  advantage  of  sea  power,  but  the  rulers 
of  Siberia  have  often  felt  instinctively  the  need  of  an 
outlet  to  the  south  and  its  warmer  climes.  Now,  after 
many  revolutions,  the  chief  potentate  in  these  parts  was 
Sultan  Aladdin.  He  had  quarreled  with  the  Muslim 
pope,  Nasir  the  caliph  of  Baghdad,  and  set  up  an  oppo- 
sition candidate.  The  caliphs  were  both  spiritual  and 
temporal  dignitaries,  like  the  famous  prince-bishop 
immortalized  in  the  Ingoldsby  legends;  and  cursing 
having  failed,  they  tried  ordinary  negotiations.  These 
were  contemptuously  rejected,  and  then  the  caliph  sent 


170  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

an  invitation  to  Genghis  Khan  to  come  and  deliver  him. 

Nothing  could  have  suited  him  better  than  a  request 
to  crush  a  state  which  reached  right  down  to  the  warm 
shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  A  pretext  was  not  hard 
to  find;  the  families  of  Mongol  merchants  who  were 
murdered  across  the  border,  were  pleasantly  surprised 
to  find  how  earnestly  their  grievance  was  taken  up. 

An  embassy  was  dispatched  to  seek  redress,  but  Sul- 
tan Aladdin  in  an  unlucky  hour  had  read  about  David 
and  Hanun,  the  son  of  Nahash,  without  drawing  the 
correct  moral.  He  clipped  the  head  off  the  chief  am- 
bassadors and  the  beards  off  the  rest  and  sent  them 
back  in  this  undignified  plight.  Did  the  Roman  envoys 
at  Tarentum  declare  that  the  filth  cast  on  their  robes 
should  be  washed  out  in  the  best  of  Greek  blood?  So, 
too,  did  Genghis  arise  in  wrath  with  his  Tatar  chivalry. 

As  their  coursers  charged  the  wind 
And  the  white  ox-tails  streamed  behind, 
They  looked  as  if  the  steeds  they  rode 
Were  winged,  and  every  chief  a  god. 

Yughi-who-rode-in-a-pie  was  put  at  the  head  of 
seven  hundred  thousand  men,  and  sent  to  punish  the 
sultan.  The  first  great  city  he  met  was  Bokhara,  a 
famous  Mohammedan  center,  where  students  flocked 
from  all  mid- Asia.  It  was  girt  around  with  a  strong 
wall,  and  even  the  suburbs  were  defended  by  an  outer 
rampart,  the  whole  ten  miles  across.  It  took  the  Mon- 
gols nine  months  to  force  the  outer  defenses ;  and  as  no 
relief  from  without  could  rescue  the  doomed  city,  the 
garrison  lost  heart,  and  most  stole  away,  receiving  the 


t  *  #  *  *  J*  m 

Be  resolute  and  the  thing  is  done. 

natural  result  of  cowardice  by  being  cut  to  pieces  in 
the  open.  The  citizens  were  ready  to  surrender  but 
found  a  harsh  conqueror.  First  by  torture  they  were 
compelled  to  bring  forth  all  their  treasure;  then  they 
were  driven  out  and  the  city  burned. 

Genghis  Khan  was  a  dazzling,  dashing,  fearless 
leader  and  merciless  in  the  treatment  of  enemies. 

On  one  occasion  he  captured  a  horde  of  foes  and 
disposed  of  them  by  placing  huge  caldrons  over  fires, 
boiling  the  water  and  throwing  in  the  chiefs  of  the  van- 
quished army.  As  Nero  fiddled  while  Rome  burned, 
so  while  the  victims  scalded  to  death,  the  mighty,  mas- 
terful Mongol  looked  on, — superior  to  the  Roman  in 
this  that  he  made  no  glee,  and  Yughi-who-rode-in-a- 
pie  was  a  chip  off  the  old  block. 

So  the  onward  march  experienced  no  dull  uniformity, 
except  in  the  uniform  success. 

A  stubborn  resistance  was  met  at  Kojend  on  the  Sur, 
which  empties  into  the  Aral  Sea.  King  Timur  had  torn 
up  the  roads  and  wrecked  the  bridges,  after  filling  the 
town  with  eatables.  On  the  river  he  had  a  fleet  of  flat- 
bottomed  boats  armed  with  the  best  artillery.  The 
general  detached  to  assail  the  city,  repaired  roads  and 
bridges,  and  then  brought  stones  and  timbers  twelve 
miles  to  dam  the  river  and  hinder  naval  operations. 
Timur  sent  fireboats  down  and  burned  the  dam,  and 
with  his  garrison  embarked  on  a  new  flotilla  protected 
with  clay  against  a  counter  attack  by  fire.  Despite  a 
check  in  some  shallows,  he  escaped  with  his  family;  but 
the  wretched  town  suffered  the  usual  horrors.     The 


172  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

temper    of    the    savage    victor    may    be    pictured    by 

Feramorz : 

He   sits   in   savage  loneliness   to   brood 
Upon  the  coming  night  of  blood, 
With  that  keen  second  scent  of  death 
By  which  the  vulture  snuffs  his  food 
In  the  still  warm  and  living  breath. 

While  such  were  the  successes  of  the  army  detached 
under  son  Yughi-who-rode-in-a-pie,  Genghis  himself 
marched  on  Samarcand  and  the  sultan.  In  the  Ara- 
bian Nights  the  famous  Aladdin  was  comparatively 
helpless  and  worthless,  apart  from  the  jinns  of  the 
ring  and  of  the  lamp.  His  namesake,  the  sultan,  was 
no  more  eminent  by  himself,  and  though  this  city  was 
a  gem  of  the  realm,  he  was  content  to  send  an  army  of 
a  hundred  thousand  to  defend  it,  but  he  did  not  go  forth 
to  head  his  troops  and  in  person  oppose  his  assailant. 
Genghis  found  that  the  town  was  Sebastopolized — de- 
fended by  extemporized  earthworks;  but  dissensions 
within  the  city  led  to  the  citizens  surrendering,  whereon 
he  massacred  all  the  garrison  except  a  few  who  cut  their 
way  out  with  the  governor. 

At  one  of  these  sieges  the  people  pleaded  for  a  rais- 
ing of  the  blockade,  and  Genghis  Khan's  general  with 
grim  humor  promised  to  do  so  if  they  would  send  him 
ten  thousand  swallows  and  a  thousand  cats.  They  were 
not  well  versed  in  the  story  of  Samson  and  his  foxes, 
and  sent  out  the  creatures  required.  To  their  tails 
bunches  of  blazing  tow  were  attached,  and  soon  the 
town  was  in  flames. 

There  is  not  much  variety  in  the  other  sieges.    Balkh, 


tt  m  *  #  t  fit  173 

When  there  is  a  cart  ahead  there  is  a  track  behind. 

Merv,  Nishapur,  all  fell  to  the  Tatar  lot;  the  new  Sul- 
tan Jalaluddin  retreated  and  great  battles  were  fought 
at  Ghanzi,  and  on  the  Indus. 

When  the  sultan  saw  that  he  was  losing  this  latter 
fight,  he  mounted  a  fresh  horse,  leaped  twenty  feet  off 
an  embankment  into  the  river,  and  swam  to  the  other 
bank,  to  the  admiration  of  Genghis  Khan.  Realizing, 
however,  that  "however  magnificent,  it  was  not  war," 
he  sent  his  best  horsemen  in  puisuit.  But  the  mad 
riders  galloping  through  the  night  failed  to  capture  the 
fugitive.  Exhausted  by  the  heat  of  the  plains  he  gave 
all  the  northwest  of  India  to  be  looted  by  the  Mongols 
and  returned  to  Ghazni.  This  had  been  the  capital  of 
a  great  Turkish  kingdom  for  many  centuries,  so 
Genghis  was  residuary  legatee  of  many  monarchs.  He 
may  have  passed  through  the  famous  gates  to  which 
the  legend  attached  that  when  they  were  removed  the 
power  of  the  state  would  collapse.  But,  unlike  Lord 
Ellenborough,  he  destroyed  the  state  first  and  left  the 
gates  alone.  While  resting,  he  heard  that  Herat,  which 
had  quietly  surrendered,  had  now  revolted.  He  sent  an 
army  which  besieged  it  half  a  year;  then  was  inaugu- 
rated a  week  of  horror,  when  one  million  six  hundred 
thousand  people  were  massacred  within  its  walls. 

A  detached  army  was  climbing  the  Caucasus,  striking 
terror  into  the  head  of  Europe.  "Who  are  these  new 
enemies  ?"  "Tatars,"  was  the  reply.  And  when  Europe 
heara  of  their  deviltry,  they  declared  that  they  Mere 
well  named  "Tartars,"  from  Tartarus  the  ancient  hell. 


174  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

And  this  jesting  perversion  has  set  the  fashion  for  our 
spelling  their  name. 

It  were  wearisome  to  recount  more  horrors;  an  esti- 
mate of  eighteen  and  one  half  millions  of  people  has 
been  made,  put  to  death  by  this  human  centipede,  in 
his  carnival  of  carnage.  The  crimson  lake  of  Genghis 
Khan  was  nearly  full  of  human  blood! 

The  days  drew  near  that  Genghis,  too,  must  die. 
Like  Herod  of  old,  he  decided  that  there  ought  to  be 
mourning  at  his  death,  if  not  for  it.  And  so  as  the 
procession  moved  to  his  ancestral  home,  every  one  met 
was  killed.  The  time  and  manner  of  his  death  are 
unknown,  but  the  tomb  has  lately  been  discovered.  An 
oblong  court  incloses  two  circular  felt  tents,  still 
guarded  by  his  descendants.  Here  they  kept  three 
festivals  yearly,  the  greatest  being  on  the  twenty-first 
day  of  the  third  lunar  month.  Then  a  man  of  a  family 
which  once  insulted  Genghiz  is  buried  up  to  the  arm- 
pits for  three  days  and  left  without  food  or  drink. 

His  power  did  not  die  with  him.  The  sons  agreed 
to  act  in  concert,  and  north  China  soon  fell  into  their 
power.  Thus  the  Mongols  ruled  from  the  Pacific  to 
the  Danube.  And  if  their  power  in  China  has  since 
shrunk,  the  family  of  Genghis  still  retains  the  peculiar 
privilege  of  riding  into  the  Chinese  palace  and  claim- 
ing a  princess  as  wife. 

The  red  reign  of  Genghis  was  destructive.  He  was 
a  cold,  ambitious,  venomous  human  monster.  But  two 
great  results  followed,  the  transplanting  the  civiliza- 
tion of  China  to  the  barbarians  of  Europe  and  the 
spread  of  Christianity  from  Baghdad  over  all  the  Mon- 


5     « 


H 


3    85 


he  a 


"a     o  — ■ 

3         K     4J 


*n  A  *n  m  %  %  'il>  175 

We  know  men's  faces,  not  their  minds. 

gol  dominions.  It  was  during  the  thirteenth  century 
that  through  the  Mongols,  Europe  learned  the  use  of 
the  mariner's  compass,  of  gunpowder,  of  paper  money, 
of  playing  cards,  of  block  printing, — all  of  them  of 
ancient  use  in  China.  And  on  the  other  hand  the 
"Patriarch  of  Babylon,"  head  of  the  Christians  of 
Saint  Thomas,  sent  forth  his  missionaries  throughout 
the  new  empire,  and  planted  churches  everywhere.  At 
one  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  Golden  Horde  and  other 
divisions  of  the  Tatars  would  join  with  Louis  of 
France  and  Edward  of  England  in  crushing  Islam. 
But  then  arose  another  ravager,  Timur,  who  repeated 
the  awful  tale  of  devastation.  And  when  the  storm 
died,  it  was  Islam  that  remained,  and  Christianity  had 
been    uprooted.       And    for     Asiatic     civilization    in 

general — 

Where  the  Tartar  hoof  hath  trod, 
The  verdure  flies  the  bloody  sod. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Desert  Loop:  Kansu 

In  our  journey  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains  of 
Tibet  we  have  followed  various  loops  or  inverted  bows 
of  the  Great  Wall.  Looking  at  the  map  one  is  struck 
by  the  resemblance  of  the  line  of  the  Wall  to  three 
stupendous  festoons.  First  in  the  mountains,  second 
in  the  loess,  and  now  in  the  desert.  This  interesting  por- 
tion of  the  Great  Wall  reaches  from  Ninghia  via  Tapa 
Ying  to  Liangchow.  It  is  a  curious  instance  of  the 
strong  local  feeling  here  that  the  people  do  not  speak 
of  the  Ten-thousand-/^  Wall,  but  call  it  only  the  Eight- 
hundred-/z  Wall. 

While  muling  along  on  a  level  road,  following  the 
ruined  boundary  line,  a  sturdy  blacksmith  fell  in  with 
us.  We  lost  no  time  in  plying  him  with  questions. 
"Chin,"  said  he,  "did  not  finish  the  Great  Wall;  the 
reason  was  that  he  lost  his  whip,  his  magic  whip;  the 
great  misfortune  fell  in  this  wise.  The  emperor  treated 
the  common  people  with  great  cruelty.  This  worked 
upon  the  mind  of  a  charming  young  daughter  of  a 
master  workman.  Chin  took  a  fancy  to  the  beautiful 
girl,  and  wanted  to  marry  her,  to  which  she  objected, 
because  she  sympathized  with  the  poor  overburdened 
workmen  on  the  Wall;  she  avoided  matrimony  by  com- 
mitting suicide.  On  arrival  in  the  lower  regions,  the 
Dragon  King  inquired  how  the  Great  Wall  was  getting 

176 


m  *•  m  %  i  -  k         m 

Hats  don't  differ  by  a  foot. 

on,  when  she  up  and  told  him  how  the  mighty  monarch 
with  his  wonderful  whip  was  erecting  the  masonry. 
Nor  did  she  stop  with  furnishing  the  news,  but  fell  upon 
her  knees  and  begged  the  Lord  of  Perdition  to  pity  her 
people  and  to  send  up  some  spirit  who  should  prevent 
further  cruelty.  The  Dragon  King  ordered  his  own 
wife,  a  crafty  and  charming  woman,  to  make  her  way 
to  the  earth,  win  the  emperor's  affections  and  marry 
him.  She  was  to  wait  an  auspicious  moment,  and  then 
make  off  with  the  wonderful  whip.  The  female  devil 
played  her  part  well,  stole  the  whip,  and  that  is  the 
reason  Chin  never  finished  the  Wall."  The  honest 
smith  ceased  his  tale. 

In  coming  from  Ninghiafu  to  Ta  Pa  Ying,  the  road 
is  level  and  good  enough  for  a  bicycle.  A  wire  which 
parallels  the  Wall  speaks  of  the  present,  as  the  masonry 
of  the  past.  The  modern  will  quickly  pronounce  which 
of  the  two  may  best  be  relied  on  to  protect  the  empire. 
The  wire  was  being  used  not  only  for  messages  but 
also  for  birds.  Never  have  we  seen  so  many  birds  in  a 
straight  line.  The  feathered  folk  rested  on  the  wire  for 
several  li  so  closely  together  that  the  metal  took  a  deep 
sag. 

As  numerous  as  the  birds  above  were  the  frogs  below. 
Millions  of  frogs — the  number  is  purely  an  estimate, 
but  there  was  a  sufficient  number  of  them  to  cover  the 
face  of  the  land.  They  were  of  one  size,  as  if  hatched 
out  on  a  lucky  day  by  some  mammoth  frog  incubator. 
We  do  not  say  that  the  hatching  was  by  artificial  means, 
and  conducted  by  the  great  frog  medicine  concern  that 
12 


178  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

has  made  Liangchow  famous.  The  mystery  remains 
unexplained,  but  my  friend  John  Gwadey,  Esquire, 
who,  curiously  enough,  popped  up  away  out  here  in  the 
desert,  just  when  he  was  wanted,  repeats  an  ancient 
legend  which  declares  that  Chin  had  a  huge  frog,  ob- 
tained when  he  visited  America.  It  was  a  rain-making 
frog,  evidently  the  forerunner  of  the  Yankee  rain- 
making  machinery.  The  Kangaroo  rat,  which  grew 
long  hind  legs,  so  it  could  jump  the  Wall,  is  called  by 
the  natives  "the  son  of  a  jump."  We  wonder  what  the 
frog  is  called.  Gwadey  goes  on  to  say  that  all  the 
people  hereabouts  believe  the  moon  story  about  Chin 
the  First.  Chin  was  sleeping  on  a  costly  rug.  It  was 
when  the  darkness  of  the  night  was  densest  that  he  had 
a  soul-stirring  dream.  His  soul  made  a  journey  to  the 
moon  while  his  body  remained  on  the  earth.  While  on 
that  lunar  orb  the  bodyless  Chin  looked  about  him  and 
then  down  on  the  far-off  planet  where  he  had  left  his 
body.  From  that  distance  his  kingdom  was  as  small 
as  a  dot.  Then  and  there  it  was  that  Chin  took  the 
idea  of  building  the  Great  Wall,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  moonshine  he  decided  to  construct  a  boundary  line 
round  his  kingdom  that  it  might  become  as  one  family. 
The  soul  of  Chin  traveled  from  the  moon  to  the  earth, 
took  on  again  its  body,  drafted  men,  put  them  to  work, 
and  intended  to  construct  the  Big  Barrier  so  as  to  in- 
close an  area  vastly  larger  than  the  kingdom  that  it 
might  thus  be  encouraged  to  grow. 

The  moon  legend  suggests  the  reason  why  Chin  built 
the  Wall.  There  are  other  reasons.  The  Great  Wall  is 
the  southern  boundary  of  the  Gobi  desert — the  soul- 


You  have  a  myriad  tricks  and  turns,  I,  one  settled 
plan. 

appalling  desert.  We  asked  the  question,  "Why  is  the 
Gobi  desert?"  The  answer  more  properly  belongs  to 
the  geologist  than  the  geographer.  And  yet,  as  we  look 
at  the  sands  of  Mongolia  the  problem  of  aridity  pre- 
sents itself,  and  we  wonder  if  they  were  deposited  by 
wind  action  or  precipitated  by  water.  The  evaporation 
here  is  very  much  in  excess  of  the  precipitation,  so  that 
the  limit  of  the  desert  has  been  much  extended  during 
this  present  geological  age,  i.e.  the  post-glacial  period. 
In  historic  times  lakes  have  become  in  Central  Asia 
terrible  deserts. 

Desiccation  continues.  The  most  depressed  sheet  of 
water  in  the  world  is  the  Dead  Sea.  But  here  is  lofty 
dead  land.  This  region  is  in  process  of  being  dried. 
When  a  shovel  goes  down  below  the  yellow,  level,  moist- 
less  surface  it  is  soon  wet.  There  is  a  wet  desert  under 
the  dry  desert.  Shave  off  the  top  of  the  plateau  and 
you  will  have  a  lofty  plain  containing  a  damp  desert. 
But  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  discuss  scientifically  the 
origin  and  development  of  the  Gobi.  We  should  like 
to  write  the  biography  of  a  grain  of  sand,  and  tell  how 
a  bit  of  rock  requires  a  journey  of  thirty-five  hundred 
miles  in  order  to  be  rounded  into  a  grain  of  sand.  We 
should  like  to  speak  of  the  hardness  of  sand,  and  its 
ability  to  liberate  oxygen  and  make  sparks;  of  its 
weight ;  that  gold-bearing  sand  is  the  heaviest,  and  gold 
is  the  only  precious  metal  found  in  sand.  Silver  and 
copper  are  never  found  in  sand;  hence  the  ancients  at 
Sardis  had  the  River  of  the  Golden  Sand.  There  are 
as  many  different  colors  of  sand  as  of  rice.     White 


180  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

sand,  like  that  covering  the  graves  of  the  Friendly 
Islanders  under  the  southern  cross;  black  sand,  into 
which  the  metal  is  cast;  yellow  sand  and  red  sand,  and 
the  sand  in  human  character.  It  would  be  interesting 
to  speak  about  the  uses  of  sand, — to  measure  time;  to 
make  glass  and  sandpaper;  to  furnish  resistance  either 
for  a  locomotive  or  a  cannon  ball;  to  mix  in  mortar  or 
in  sugar. 

A  canary  requires  an  ounce  of  sand  per  month  in 
order  to  sing  sweetly.  Sand  produces  the  feathered 
songster's  ability  to  issue  liquid  notes  on  the  desert  air. 
The  desert  also  seems  to  make  men  mad.  Why  is  it 
that  people  go  crazy  on  the  great  waste  places  of  the 
earth?  Many  desert  dwellers  descend  into  madness  and 
become  violent;  solitude  is  more  than  many  can  endure. 
Here  is  the  reason  for  people  in  civilization  huddling 
together  in  tenement  houses,  flats  and  fashionable  man- 
sions, being  unable  to  control  their  own  mental  move- 
ments. While  it  is  true  that  on  the  vast  sand  plain 
there  are  no  sky-scrapers,  no  trams  or  other  earth- 
scrapers,  no  scramble  to  reach  the  top  and  annex  it,  one 
is  in  a  free  land,  which  nobody  owns  and  nobody  wants 
to,  and  there  is  no  sign,  "Keep  off  the  sand";  the  very 
freedom  endangers  the  sanity  of  the  mind.  If  the 
Gobi  is  bad  enough  to  give  a  camel  two  humps,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  desert  should  be  considered  the 
birthplace  of  demons.    Witness  a  bit  of  Gibbon: 

"A  fabulous  origin  was  assigned,  worthy  of  their  form 
and  manners,  that  the  Witches  of  Scythia,  who,  for  their 
foul  and  deadly  practices,  had  been  driven  from  society, 
had  copulated  in  the  desert  with  the  Infernal  Spirit ;  and 


There   is  nothing  difficult   under   heaven,  if  men 
will  only  do  it. 

that  the  Huns  were  the  offspring  of  this  execrable  con- 
junction. The  tale,  so  full  of  horror  and  absurdity,  was 
greedily  embraced  by  the  credulous  hatred  of  the  Goths." 

Chin  had  an  astute  mind,  and  may  it  not  be  that  the 
Great  Wall  was  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
venting the  devils  of  the  desert  entering  the  Central 
Kingdom  ?  The  English  traveler,  Atkinson,  called  these 
steppes  "the  cradle  of  invasions."  The  longer  we  fol- 
low this  Great  Barrier  the  more  are  we  led  to  believe 
that  it  was  intended  to  be  a  materialized  dragon 
stretched  along  the  entire  northern  boundary  of  the 
empire  to  protect  it  from  demons  and  devilized  human 
beings.  This  stupendous  structure  may  be  considered 
the  incarnation  of  the  supreme  religious  idea  controlling 
the  motives  of  Chin. 

At  Ta  Pa  Ying  is  the  first  wet  engineering  feat,  con- 
spicuous and  important  on  the  line  of  the  Long  Wall. 
It  is  a  large  and  ancient  irrigating  scheme.  During 
the  day  and  a  half  of  our  investigation  we  copied  a 
large  housed  tablet  telling  of  the  repairing  of  the  canals, 
locks  and  bridges  of  the  system.  We  recollect  that  the 
engineering  feats  of  the  sons  of  Chin,  omitting  roads 
and  bridges,  are  classified  under  three  heads,  and  the 
most  conspicuous  representatives  of  these  three  heads 
are  the  Great  Wall,  the  Grand  Canal,  called  "River  of 
Flood  Gates,"  and  the  irrigating  plant.  The  Yankee 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  a  prompt  and 
useful  bureau,  issued  recently  a  pamphlet  from  The 
Summary   of   Commerce   and   Finance   for  January, 


182  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

1905,  under  the  title  of  "The  Great  Canals  of  the 
World."  We  sent  for  a  copy  of  this  pamphlet,  expect- 
ing to  find  considerable  reference  to  the  Grand  Canal 
of  China.  Imagine  our  surprise  to  find  the  world's 
greatest  canal  not  even  mentioned,  except  briefly  at  the 
tail  end.  "The  Great  Canals  of  the  World"  mentions 
such  pigmy  affairs  as  the  Suez,  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm, 
and  some  Canadian  cut  creeks,  and  a  few  Yankee 
ditches  like  the  Erie  Canal.  Shade  of  George  Wash- 
ington, the  great  canals  of  the  world! 

Look  at  the  Grand  Canal  of  the  Chinese,  built  by  the 
Tartars  and  constructed  on  the  two  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  political  economy:  the  easy  production  of 
wealth,  and  its  easy  distribution.  Here  we  find  both 
ends  attained  by  the  same  construction.  Even  apart 
from  the  transportation,  the  Chinese  have  been  re- 
markably clever  at  appreciating  the  importance  of  irri- 
gation. In  the  third  century  B.C.  the  plain  of  Ch'engtu, 
once  a  mere  stretch  of  boulders,  was  changed  over  nearly 
three  thousand  square  miles  into  splendid  agricultural 
land,  now  producing  five  crops  a  year.  Here  at  Ta  Pa 
Ying,  next  to  the  Shentu  Plain,  is  the  best  place  for 
studying  their  irrigating  system. 

Here  follows  a  translation  of  the  inscription  on  the 
large  slab  monument  at  Ta  Pa  Ying,  province  of  Kansu, 
dealing  with  irrigation  near  the  Great  Wall  of  China: 

"I,  the  Emperor,  since  ascending  the  imperial  throne, 
have  spared  no  pains  in  seeking  the  welfare  of  my  poor 
people,  even  putting  on  my  clothes  in  the  evening  and 
eating  my  food  at  night.  Because  the  source  of  food  and 
clothing  for  the  people  is  convenient  water,  in  the  fourth 


A  Fortified  Farmhouse  near  Tu  Men  Tse  in  the  Province  of  Kantsu. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

A  Picturesque  Pailo  at  Yungchang  Hsien  in  Kansu  Province 


Affi&Jft&ftffiC  183 

The  man  who  takes  no  thought  for  the  distant,  has 
sorrow  near  at  hand. 

year  of  Yung  Cheng,  the  sixth  moon,  I  definitely  com- 
manded my  councilor,  along  with  the  statesman  Shan  Chow- 
shu,  holding  office  at  Ninghia,  to  examine  the  territory  of 
Han  tou  Hu  for  the  purpose  of  re-opening  the  two  irri- 
gation schemes  Hui  Nung  and  Chang  Yiin,  and  to  dig  a 
new  canal  to  enrich  the  two  countries  that  doors  and  mouths 
(families)  may  be  induced  to  settle  and  cultivate  the  land. 

"This  great  work  was  completed  in  the  eighth  year  of 
Yung  Cheng,  in  the  fifth  moon.  We  have  received  the  holy 
favor  in  thus  remembering  the  three  irrigations  of  the  Ta 
Ch'ing,  Han  and  T'ang  dynasties,  from  which  comes  the 
food  supply  of  Ninghia  Fu.  The  locks  and  branches  of 
these  rivers  have  fallen  into  ruin,  and  if  not  repaired  would 
ere  long  be  past  remedy.  We  take  advantage  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  statesman  who  has  already  constructed 
canals  at  Ninghia.  He  will  naturally  understand  every 
detail.  A  meeting  of  officials  was  called  to  investigate  and 
consult  about  the  undertaking.  With  the  imperial  sanction 
they  made  careful  investigations,  and  it  was  seen  that  the 
work  of  repairing  all  three  rivers  at  one  time  was  too 
great  to  be  accomplished. 

"They  reported  this  to  the  Emperor  and  requested  that 
the  canal  of  the  T'ang  be  first  repaired.  Having  received 
the  imperial  decree,  and  in  accordance  with  their  own  de- 
cision, they  prosecuted  the  work  of  re-opening  the  T'ang 
canal.  The  canal  divided  from  the  river  and  entered  the 
mouth  of  the  stream  below  the  One  Hundred  and  Eight 
Pagoda  monastery  at  Ching  Tung  Chia,  and  from  Ta  Pa 
it  flowed  round  Ninghia,  past  P'inglo,  and  entered  the  West 
river,  in  length  three  hundred  and  eight  li.  It  touches  the 
He  Lan  Mountains,  and  impartially  waters  all  the  adjoining 
land. 

"By  examining  the  book  of  records  we  find  that  the  name 
of  this  irrigating  river  is  Lai  (Come).     During  the  Yuan 


184  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

dynasty  Chung  Tung- Wen  sought  to  carry  out  this  labor- 
saving  plan  of  irrigating  rivers.  The  work  of  deepening 
the  bed  of  the  stream  was  completed,  but  the  locks  and 
their  foundations  were  still  made  of  timber.  In  the  reign 
of  Lung  Ch'ing  of  the  Ming  dynasty  the  wood  was  replaced 
by  stone.  One  hundred  and  sixty  years  afterwards,  al- 
though there  was  a  law  that  every  year  these  works  should 
be  repaired,  the  overseeing  official  neglected  his  duty  and 
the  locks  and  foundations  fell  into  a  ruined  condition, 
while  the  body  of  the  river  filled  with  mud.  The  great 
statesman,  having  received  the  command  of  the  Emperor, 
again  repaired  it.  In  the  reign  of  Yung  Cheng,  ninth  year, 
second  moon,  twentieth  sun,  forty  efficient  military  and 
civil  officials,  together  with  all  the  officials  of  Ninghia, 
including  the  Taotai,  prefect  and  magistrates,  organized 
themselves  and  divided  the  work  between  them.  Starting 
from  the  mouth,  where  the  water  entered  the  river,  they 
simultaneously  began  operations." 

The  tablet  goes  on  to  relate  that  the  breakwater 
erected  where  the  irrigation  river  branched  off  from  the 
Yellow  River  was  repaired,  and  that  an  aqueduct  three 
hundred  feet  long  to  carry  off  the  overflow  was  en- 
larged, and  thus  reduced  the  rapid  current  in  the  main 
stream.  Locks  were  repaired,  stone  walls  reconstructed. 
The  inscription  continues : 

"From  the  entrance  of  the  water  into  the  irrigation  canal 
to  the  main  lock,  a  distance  of  nine  It,  three  divisions  and 
eighty  feet,  all  stopped  up  with  rock  and  sand  was  counted 
one  contract." 

The  names  of  the  various  termini  of  the  contracts  are 
interesting:  Moon  Tooth  Lake,  Gemmy  Fountain 
Bridge,    Great   Ferry   Mouth,    Harmonious    Eminent 


The  heart  is  like  a  race  horse  on  a  plain,  easy  to 
let  go,  hard  to  rein  in. 

Tower,  Three  Canal  Bend,  Opening  Light  Bridge.  As 
the  body  of  the  canal  was  narrow,  and  the  lips  much 
silted  up,  it  was  divided  into  three  contracts.  There 
seems  to  have  been  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  with  the 
tail  of  the  canal,  but  this  was  remedied  by  the  engineer. 
There  were  seventeen  bridges  in  all,  and  at  the  new 
tail  of  the  canal  two  new  bridges  were  constructed  for 
the  passage  of  the  comers  and  goers.  The  places  tend- 
ing to  silt  up  were  examined,  and  twelve  pieces  of  stone 
buried  at  the  bottom  caused  the  water  to  flow  more 
swiftly. 

"On  the  fourteenth  sun  of  the  fourth  moon  the  work  of 
completing  the  channel  was  finished.  All  are  deeply  touched 
as  they  look  up  at  the  immeasurably  loving  intentions  of 
the  Emperor  on  behalf  of  his  people,  and  at  his  using  his 
utmost  strength  in  carrying  them  out.  There  was  not  one 
who  was  not  pleased  with  all  the  officials,  large  and  small, 
at  Ninghia ;  they  beat  drums  and  danced  without  end. 
Ninghia  contributed  materials  costing  eighteen  thousand 
ounces  of  gold.  From  the  opening  of  the  work  to  the 
setting  free  of  the  water  there  were  fifty-three  days,  and 
the  people  did  not  feel  the  work  heavy.  After  the  great 
work  was  finished,  the  irrigation  system  presented  a  new 
aspect.  The  water  flowed  smoothly,  and  the  lands,  whether 
high  or  low,  all  felt  the  benefit  of  abundant  moisture. 

"The  ten  thousand  names  rise  up  in  their  joy,  and  the 
multitude  sing  songs ! 

"Date.  Ninth  year  of  Yung  Cheng,  being  the  year  Hsin 
Hai,  in  the  fifth  moon,  on  a  lucky  day,  this  stone  was 
erected." 

On  the  walls  were  various  sentences  inscribed  by  trav- 
elers.   As  a  sample  there  was  this: 


186  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

"The  suns  and  the  moons  change  and  depart, 

Men  are  born  for  a  few  dots  of  time, 
They  meet  with  wealth  and  forget  justice; 

What  will  their  future  be? 
When  their  evil  is  strung  together  to  the  full, 

They  will  transmigrate  and  become  donkeys." 

Another  traveler,  who  may  have  had  an  experience 
with  an  innkeeper,  wrote: 

"The  men  on  this  earth  are  no  good." 

The  Great  Wall  is  in  ruins,  but  large  and  conspicu- 
ous, even  where  the  decrepitude  of  old  age  appears,  the 
circumvallation  of  China  excites  admiration.  Immedi- 
ately we  passed  beyond  the  influence  of  the  irrigating 
system  the  desert  was  entered.  At  Chungwei  the  Great 
Wall  branches,  one  line  crossing  the  Yellow  River  and 
passing  southward  to  Lanchow,  while  the  other,  along 
which  our  caravan  proceeded,  ran  a  westward  course 
toward  the  ultimate  gate  of  China. 

Had  we  elected  to  follow  the  rampart  as  it  wound  on 
toward  the  south,  the  caravan  must  have  passed  the 
valley  in  which  is  nestled  the  small  village  of  Ts'in- 
huang  Chuan,  which  name  means  "King  Chin's  stream." 
Named  in  honor  of  the  First  Emperor,  the  locals  say, 
some  of  his  descendants  have  for  generations  lived 
there;  indeed,  the  natives  claim  that  Chin's  ancestors 
dwelt  where  they  now  live.  This  we  cannot  accept  as 
more  than  legend. 

Aside  from  its  association,  at  least  by  name,  with  the 
Great  Wall  builder  the  place  is  interesting  because  of 
the  depth  of  the  wells,  which  are  said  to  be  over  four 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by    Dr     Gdl 

The  Great  Wall  at  the  Shweikwan  Pass.  Notice  the  extraordinary  curve 
in  the  masonry  and  admire  the  grit  and  skill  of  the  men  who  planned 
and  built 


■smm^-mmMm         187 

In  the  presence  of  a  dwarf  don't  use  short  words. 

hundred  feet  deep.  The  water  buckets  are  drawn  up 
by  donkeys.  From  the  name  one  would  expect  to  find 
a  stream  near  by,  but  at  the  present  time  there  are  no 
signs  of  it. 

Moving  westward  our  caravan  met  many  well- 
mounted  but  wild-looking  men,  and  a  sand  storm  which 
overtook  us  obliterated  the  track  and  we  lost  our  way. 
These  two  incidents  suggested  that  if  the  engineers  who 
constructed  the  Great  Wall  surmounted  difficulties  in 
the  mountains  and  on  the  loess  plateau,  they  also  had 
need  to  exercise  their  engineering  skill  in  this  land  of 
sand.  Probably  for  the  two  purposes  of  protecting 
against  drifting  sand  and  foraging  barbarians  the 
Great  Barrier  was  constructed.  This  Wall  suggests  that 
the  population  of  the  world  has  not  merely  increased 
but  that  the  center  of  population  has  shifted.  During 
Chin's  lifetime,  north  of  the  Wall  were  cities,  important 
centers  of  population.  These  lie  beneath  the  sands  of 
Gobi — a  much  denser  population  inhabited  the  "out- 
side" then  than  at  present. 

Our  caravan  now  entered  bad  lands, — dry  stretches 
where  in  the  day  the  sun  scorches  with  an  arid  atmo- 
sphere, while  after  a  brief  ghostly  twilight  there  gath- 
ers a  darkness  that  fills  the  caverns  of  the  sky.  To  do 
justice  to  the  dreariness  of  the  journey,  Black  Dog's 
diary  may  be  drawn  upon  again:  "From  this,  going  up 
the  sand  mountain  truly  was  not  easy.  Going  up  just 
at  the  middle  of  the  hill's  waist,  was  a  mat  tent.  In 
front  of  the  tent  was  a  large  water  jar,  one  piece;  in 
this   was   water.      Passers-by   when   tired   and   thirsty 


188  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

might  use  it.  I  asked  what  place  possessed  the  man 
that  put  it  there.  It  was  answered,  from  below  the  sand 
hill  ten  li  away,  he  comes  here  to  carry  out  this  meri- 
torious deed.  One  said,  'As  he  has  no  son  he  does  this 
to  store  up  secret  merit  that  he  may  ask  for  a  son.'  But 
the  man,  although  his  deed  is  perfectly  right,  his  prayer 
is  one-sided.  What  he  does  though  it  is  good,  it  does 
not  come  from  orthodox  doctrine."  Poor  Black  Dog; 
how  comforted  he  would  be  to  know  that  many  western- 
ers, too,  prefer  orthodox  doctrine  to  charitable  deeds. 

It  was  his  relaxation  in  this  forsaken  road  to  jot 
down  his  impressions.  "We  went  round  a  hill  and  then 
looked  for  some  one  that  we  might  strike  an  inquiry. 
Alas,  there  was  not  even  half  a  man!"  Was  he  think- 
ing of  the  dwarfish  Chinese  vizier  who  was  heard  to 
reflect,  as  he  stood  before  a  mirror,  that  a  foot  of  face 
was  worth  seven  feet  of  body?  At  Ta  Ching  he  noted 
how  "we  stayed  the  night  in  the  Inn  of  Increasing 
Justice.  The  name  of  the  controller  was  Chin.  In  the 
midst  of  the  city  was  a  lama  temple.  In  the  temple  was 
the  dead  corpse  of  a  lama.  On  the  outside  was 
fashioned  a  mud  village.  The  word  was  this ;  the  lama, 
seeking  to  become  a  living  genius,  sat  in  the  midst  of  the 
temple  where  he  hoped  to  change.  Afterwards  came 
here  a  great  official  named  T'ien  Kung,  who  entered 
the  temple  to  worship.  The  lama  paid  him  no  attention, 
so  the  enraged  official  took  his  sword  and  cut  off  the 
lama's  head,  which  fell  to  the  ground.  But  the  priest 
picked  up  his  head  and  put  it  on  again.  When  T'ien 
Kung  again  cut  off  his  head,  from  the  lama's  neck  came 
forth  white  breath  which  went  up  to  heaven.    Now  the 


?c«r.0E«r.aE  189 

Heaven  has  not  two  suns,  nor  the  people  two  kings. 

people  dare  not  open  the  north  gate  lest  the  dead  lama 
destroy  the  city  with  fire." 

These  saffron-vested  monks  are  quite  an  ingredient 
in  the  population  here.  Some  people  think  that  the 
Chinese  encourage  Buddhism  among  the  dwellers  in 
this  desert  land;  for  if  the  people  largely  turn  lamas, 
and  remain  bachelors,  the  population  must  be  kept 
down,  below  the  danger  point. 

Despite  the  optimist  views  of  Black  Dog,  we  pushed 
on  past  forsaken  villages  and  deserted  towns,  one  of 
which  testified  in  its  name  to  the  progressive  civiliza- 
tion in  these  parts,  the  "Dry  Son  of  a  Dyke."  It  was 
a  relief  when  we  sighted  the  city  of  Liangchow  and 
entered  its  gateway. 

In  a  period  of  rest  after  this  toilsome  march,  came 
an  opportunity  for  clarifying  ideas  on  the  topic  of  the 
walls  we  had  passed.  On  the  map  the  Wall  looks  indeed 
like  three  great  festoons,  but  there  are  some  odd  tassels 
as  well;  about  these  we  made  diligent  inquiry.  While 
our  concern  is  chiefly  with  the  original  Wall  of  Chin, 
and  with  the  final  defenses  of  the  Mings,  yet  we  gath- 
ered up  many  fragments  of  story  as  to  other  walls,  a 
trifle  earlier  or  in  between.  From  the  official  records 
we  glean  these  translations: 

The  beginnings  of  the  Long  Rampart  were  about 
the  time  of  the  contending  states1  when  the  well-and- 
fields  method  of  dividing  land  had  fallen  into  disuse, 

1  The  period  of  the  contending  states  is  variously  given  as  403  or  481- 
255  b.c.  By  others  it  is  limited  to  the  years  immediately  following,  255- 
221  b.c. 


190  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

and  when  chariots  were  abolished  and  cavalry  substi- 
tuted. Ch'i  Ming-wang  constructed  a  defense  in  the 
form  of  a  Long  Rampart  from  north  of  the  Tsi  River 
(Kwoh  Lu)  to  the  eastern  sea. 

Also  the  records  of  Mount  T'ai  state  that  from 
Mount  T'ai  west  there  was  a  Long  Embankment  along 
the  Yellow  River  past  Mount  T'ai  to  Lang  Ya  (Ts'in- 
chow  Fu) .    This  is  the  Long  Rampart  of  Tsi. 

The  state  of  Wei  also  built  a  Long  Rampart  from  the 
Chen  to  the  Loh,  because  of  the  large  city  on  the  north. 
Therefore  Su  Ch'in  said  to  Wei  Hsiang  Wang,  "on  the 
west  is  the  boundary  of  a  Long  Rampart."  This  is  the 
Long  Rampart  of  Wei. 

The  annals  of  Han  (continued)  state  that  in  Chuen 
Hsien,  Honan,  there  was  a  Long  Rampart  passing  Wu 
Yang  to  Mih.    This  is  the  Long  Rampart  of  Han. 

The  "Water  Classic"  says  that  from  the  east  bound- 
ary there  was  an  ancient  Rampart  on  the  south  and 
north  several  hundred  It,  called  by  some  the  Square 
Rampart,  by  others  the  Long  Rampart.  The  annals  of 
the  Prefectural  State  also  say  that  Sheh  Hsien  has  a 
Long  Rampart  and  a  Square  Rampart.  This  is  the 
Long  Rampart  of  Ts'u. 

In  the  sixth  year  of  Chao  Chen  Hou  the  people  of 
Chung  San  constructed  a  Long  Rampart.  Shu  LIou  in 
the  seventh  year  also  did  the  same.  These  are  the  Long 
Ramparts  of  Chao  and  Chung  San.  From  this  it  may 
be  seen  that  the  Long  Ramparts  of  China  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  northern  frontier. 

That  on  the  north  from  Tsao  Yang  to  Siang  Ping 
was  the  Long  Rampart  of  Yen.    Hsiian,  dowager  of 


S97)ti&I  191 

A  near  neighbour  is  better  than  a  distant  relative. 

Ch'in,  commanded  I  Chu  to  seize  Lung  Hsi  (Kansu), 
Shang  Chun  and  other  places,  and  built  a  Long  Rampart 
to  keep  out  the  Hu  (Mongols).  This  is  the  beginning 
of  the  Long  Rampart  of  Ch'in.  Afterwards  The  Only 
First  (Chin)  united  the  Six  States  and  sent  Meng  T'ien 
with  a  hundred  thousand  men  to  fight  the  northern 
Mongols;  he  took  the  country  south  of  the  Yellow 
River,  making  the  river  a  boundary.  Through  more 
than  forty  Hsien  (magistracies)  from  Kiu  Yuen  to 
Yun  Yang  was  this  Rampart  constructed  by  cutting 
through  the  streams  and  following  along  the  hills  from 
Ling  Tiao  to  Liao  Tung  "ten  thousand  li  and  a  rem- 
nant." This  is  the  Long  Rampart  of  Chin,  who  united 
all  under  heaven   (China). 

Afterwards  Han  Wu-ti  (140  B.C.)  sent  Wei  Ch'ing 
and  others  to  fight  the  Hsiung-nu  or  Huns.  He  built 
on  the  north  and  put  in  repair  the  old-time  Boundary 
of  Chin  along  the  river  for  security.  Others  there  were 
like  Wei  Yuan  ti  who  built  a  Long  Rampart  from 
Chang  Chuen  south  to  Chih  Chen,  east  to  Wu  Yuen, 
more  than  five  thousand  li. 

Ch'i  Hsiian-ti  (550  a.d.)  began  to  build  a  Long 
Rampart  from  Hwang  Lu  Pass  north  to  Sie  Ping,  more 
than  four  hundred  li. 

Chou  Hsiian-ti  (578  a.d.)  sent  people  from  all  the 
Chou  cities  of  Shantung  to  repair  the  Long  Rampart, 
and  erected  towers  west  to  Yen  Men  (Wild  Goose 
Gate),  east  to  Hsieh  Shih. 

Sui  Wen-ti  sent  Tsui  Chung-fang  with  thirty  thou- 
sand men  to  the  north. 


192  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Ling  Wu  ordered  the  board  of  farmers  to  make  a 
Long  Rampart  east  to  the  Yellow  River,  west  to  Sui 
Chow,  south  to  Poh  Chu  Pass,  winding  seven  hundred 
li,  built  by  "ten  times  ten  thousand  and  a  remnant  men." 

Then  under  the  Ming  dynasty  the  process  was  re- 
peated. In  the  ninth  year  of  Chang  Wa,  Yii  governor 
of  Yen  Sui  built  an  addition  from  Ts'ingshui  Ying 
westward  to  Hwame  Chih,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  seventy  li,  called  the  East  Long  Wall.  In  the 
seventh  year  of  Chia  Ching,  Governor  Wang  Chiung, 
of  the  Three  Borders,  built  a  new  Wall  from  Hwaraa 
Chih  westward  to  Heng  Chen  to  the  river  border, 
establishing  custom-houses  to  regulate  the  trade  in- 
side and  outside;  this  was  the  New  Long  Wall. 
Twelve  years  later  the  governor  of  Tinghsia  built  a 
Wall  from  Hasan  Shan  to  Ninwei  Hsin,  westward  forty 
li;  this  was  the  West  Long  Wall.  Another  section  to 
the  north  of  Pinglo  Hsien  ten  li  to  the  mountain  to 
Sand  Lake,  fifty  li;  called  the  North  Long  Wall. 

There  is  also  the  Rampart,  now  mostly  in  ruins,  which 
leaves  the  southern  arm  northeast  of  the  Wut'ai  Shan 
and  stretches  southward  on  the  boundary  line  between 
Chihli  and  Shansi. 

While,  however,  we  gladly  gather  up  and  record  all 
these  fragments  of  information  as  to  the  repairs  and 
the  variations  of  line,  we  adhere  to  our  determination 
to  learn  about  the  Great  Wall  of  Chin,  and  to  follow 
the  Barrier  Rampart  of  the  Mings. 

So,  then,  it  will  be  seen  that  every  dynasty  had  its 
Long  Rampart  broadening  out  in  the  time  of  Chin,  and 
added  to  by  Han  and  Sui.    At  present  in  Kansu  may 


pf_t&%$l***p         193 

The  hairless  lip  in  managing  affairs  is  apt  to  slip. 

be  seen  the  old  ruins  of  a  frontier  Wall  (the  Chinese 
character  here  differs  from  the  one  translated  rampart 
in  the  original  text) .  At  Kaolan  Pin,  Fanku  Lang 
boundary,  they  use  it  as  a  protection  against  the  Sung 
Shan  (pine  hill  people).  In  Kansu,  Ninghai,  it  is  for 
a  defense  against  the  Ho  T'ao.  It  all  was  repaired  in 
the  Ming  dynasty.  Some  building  and  repairs  were 
completed  in  the  beginning  of  this  dynasty  (Ch'ing). 
The  Rampart  separates  the  Mongol  barbaroi  from  the 
sons  of  Han   (Chinese). 

If  one  considers  this  to  be  the  Long  Rampart  of  Chin, 
he  is  very  much  mistaken,  because  the  Long  Rampart  of 
Chin  begins  at  Ling  Tiao — now  Ming  Chow.  Said  an 
old  man,  "Many  of  these  foundations  bequeathed  to  us 
cannot  now  be  identified  (or  distinguished)." 

We  may  safely  say  that  the  Chinese  people  have 
built,  during  the  last  twenty-two  centuries,  more  than 
a  dozen  Great  Walls !  And  that  the  masonry  exhibited 
almost  as  many  varieties  of  construction. 


13 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Chin  Shih  Hwangti:  First  Universal  Emperor  of  China 

Historico-Economic  Study  of  Chinas 

Greatest  Ruler 

"A  colossal  soul:  he  lies  vast  abroad  on  his  times, 
uncomprehended  by  them,  and  requires  a  long  focal 
distance  to  be  seen:  suggests,  as  Aristotle,  Bacon,  Sel- 
den,  Humboldt,  that  a  certain  vastness  of  learning,  or 
quasi  omnipresence  of  the  human  soul  and  in  nature 
are  possible."  This  estimate,  if  drawn  up  for  another 
man,  aptly  describes  our  hero.  He  created  an  empire, 
he  protected  it  with  a  Wall,  he  destroyed  the  classics. 
Let  these  achievements  be  looked  at  separately. 

His  great-grandfather  was  a  chief  with  imperial  blood 
in  his  veins  a  thousand  years  old.  He  fought  his  way  to 
the  head  of  a  state  which  roughly  covered  the  basin  of 
the  Yellow  River,  and  established  himself  there  in 
255  B.C.,  dethroning  the  last  Chou  ruler  and  dissolving 
his  empire  into  seven  independent  states.  Chin's  grand- 
father became  a  "guest  in  heaven"  after  a  reign  of  three 
days,  and  was  joined  by  his  father  in  three  years.  Our 
hero  came  to  the  throne  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  in  the 
year  246  B.C.  Alexander  of  Macedon  had  been  dead 
about  eighty  years,  and  the  Asiatic  part  of  his  empire 
was  now  ruled  from  Antioch.  Parthia  was  just  estab- 
lishing her  independence;  Asoka  was  patronizing 
Buddhism  in  India;  far  to  the  west  the  Romans  and 

194 


ff 

f  '"■■> 

<    t 

1 

" 

--"-— -~g5p 

s 

The    Greal 


'  "ms  Photo   by    Dr.    Gteil 

•I  asked  a1  Liangchow  and  words  replied:  "In  the  year  of  the  Moham- 
medan Rebellion  the  faces  of  the  dead  could  not  be  recognized,  so 
they  collected  the  whitened  bones  and  erected  the  White  Hones 
Pagodas  to  remember  them."— Black  Dog's  Diary 


*«t**4&#fl*J**S  195 

A  careless  beginning  means  a  repentant  ending 

Carthaginians  were  in  their  first  grapple.  That  may 
help  us  to  understand  the  time,  but  for  all  the  influence 
they  had  on  Chin,  we  might  as  well  quote  what  the  man 
in  the  moon  was  doing! 

His  career  was  much  like  that  of  William  the  Nor- 
man, on  a  larger  theater.  He  found  himself  in  youth 
at  the  head  of  a  rebellious  feudal  state,  and  his  first  care 
was  to  consolidate  it.  He  did  away  with  all  the  dukes, 
marquises,  counts  and  barons  so  far  as  their  titles 
implied  any  territorial  jurisdiction,  and  reduced  the 
whole  of  his  inheritance  to  an  absolute  dependence  on 
himself.  Indeed,  he  was  even  more  thorough  than 
William,  for  the  latter  could  not  avoid  vassals  in  some 
form  or  other,  but  Chin  made  an  end  of  the  whole  sys- 
tem. He  divided  up  the  whole  unified  state  into  pre- 
fectures, and  sent  a  royal  commission  to  take  charge  of 
each  for  a  term  of  years  or  at  his  own  pleasure,  with 
no  right  either  to  be  promoted  to  a  different  prefecture 
or  to  hand  on  the  prefecture  to  his  son.  It  is  worth 
noticing  that  in  Persia  the  same  thing  had  been  done 
three  centuries  before,  with  the  same  effect,  breaking 
the  power  of  too  formidable  vassals  and  concentrating 
the  power  into  the  royal  hands.  But  Chin's  areas  were 
much  larger,  for  while  Ahasuerus  or  Xerxes  "reigned 
from  India  even  unto  Ethiopia,  over  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  provinces,"  Chin,  when  his  dominions  had 
grown  to  their  full  extent,  onh'-  had  thirty-six  prefec- 
tures, and  each  would  compare  with  a  European  state 
of  the  second  rank. 

For  he  not  only  reorganized  his  hereditary  domain, 


196 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


he  looked  southward,  and  warred  on  one  petty  state 
after  another,  till  about  a  score  had  been  annexed. 
What  happened  to  their  rulers  is  not  always  known; 
perhaps  some  ran  away,  some  were  killed,  some  accepted 


Portrait  of  Chin  shih  Huang  Ti,  procured  by  Lionel  Giles,  M.  A.  from  among 
illustrations  in  the  Lung  Chow  Lieh  Kuo,  a  well-known  historical  romance. 
Whether  it  conveys  an  accurate  presentment  of  the  Emperor's  features  we 
cannot  say.    There  is  some  character  in  it. 

honorary  titles  and  cash  and  rank  in  the  civil  service. 
But  Chin's  realm  grew  like  Louis  XIV's,  swallowing 
up  everything  to  the  south  until  he  reached  the  ocean; 
from  being  a  ruler  only  of  one  river  basin,  like  the 


£  &  %  fc  K  %  it  197 

He  painted  a  tiger,  but  it  turned  out  a  cur. 

Chous  before  his  great-grandfather,  he  became  lord  of 
all  the  east  of  Asia.  The  China  of  to-day  is  the  crea- 
tion of  Chin,  and  most  deservedly  has  his  name  been 
given  to  it.  He  was  thoroughly  conscious  of  the  novelty 
of  his  proceedings  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  man  who  had 
no  ancestors,  but  intended  to  be  an  ancestor,  he  assumed 
the  title  Shih  Huang  ti.  The  old  title  of  king  seemed 
too  feeble  now  that  he  had  dethroned  all  kings  he  could 
hear  of,  and  abolished  all  duchies,  marquisates,  etc. ;  he 
assumed  a  new  title.  The  principles  of  his  rule  were 
not  those  of  the  obsolete  Chous,  and  he  expressly  repudi- 
ated their  titles.  This  new  departure  may  be  dated 
221  B.C.  To  mark  his  scorn  for  the  Chous  who  had,  like 
their  predecessors,  revered  fire,  seven,  violet;  he  chose 
as  his  emblems  water,  six,  and  black.  He  was  not  their 
successor  but  a  new  beginning. 

To  unify  the  empire  he  proceeded  to  abolish  many 
local  customs ;  thus  one  system  of  weights  and  measures 
was  introduced  over  the  whole  area.  Even  to-day  the 
traveler  by  the  oriental  express  across  Europe  finds 
these  varying  most  perplexingly ;  but  Chin  did  away 
with  the  old  standards.  To  ascertain  the  resources  of 
his  dominions  he  had  an  elaborate  inventory  made,  a 
doomsday  book ;  then  to  make  trade  easier  he  caused 
great  roads  to  be  built,  with  smooth  stones  laid  parallel 
at  fixed  distances  apart — a  series  of  railways  except 
that  there  were  no  flanges  to  the  rails  or  to  the  wheels. 
The  greatest  of  these  radiated  out  for  six  hundred 
miles,  a  colossal  enterprise  even  to-day;  canals  were 
laid    out    across    country    and    everything    was    done 


198  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

to  make  the  new  provinces  realize  that  they  were  bene- 
fiting by  the  loss  of  their  independence. 

Such  an  empire  demanded  a  new  capital.  Hebron 
was  good  enough  for  David,  vassal  of  the  Philistines 
over  Judah,  but  when  he  governed  all  Israel  he  took 
Jerusalem  and  converted  it  into  a  federal  capital.  Chin 
chose  what  had  been  a  petty  capital  of  one  of  the  north- 
ern states  before  his  great-grandfather  had  founded 
his  dynasty  and  laid  out  a  new  capital,  known  to-day 
as  Hsienyang,  in  the  province  of  Shensi.  It  was  in  the 
hereditary  dominions,  but  well  to  the  south,  was  on  a 
river,  but  not  on  the  capricious  Hwang  ho  itself.  Many 
miles  long  did  he  build  it,  with  magnificent  fortifica- 
tions. Nothing  like  it  had  been  seen  in  those  parts,  and 
it  is  very  doubtful  if  he  had  heard  of  Nebuchadnezzar's 
plans  for  Babylon,  which  alone  in  Asia  could  compare. 
From  the  capital  roads  led  out  in  every  direction  to  link 
the  most  distant  provinces  direct  with  the  emperor. 
Soon  the  palaces  within  the  walls  numbered  over  two 
hundred,  while  four  hundred  villas  were  in  the  suburbs. 
For  such  a  capital  a  magnificent  palace  was  inevitable, 
and  it  arose  by  the  labor  of  half  a  million  eunuchs. 
The  entrance  hall  was  five  hundred  paces  by  fifty  and 
the  upper  story  held  ten  thousand  people  and  a  rem- 
nant. This  is  clearly  a  round  number.  About  the 
palace  was  a  park,  the  gate  of  which  was  miles  away  on 
a  mountain  peak.  Quite  on  the  plan  of  Ahasuerus  he 
sent  out  for  all  the  most  beautiful  women  of  the  empire 
and  as  they  came  provided  each  with  a  suite  of  rooms. 
These  annexes  were  erected  to  form  a  map  of  the  skies 
between  the  north  star,  Aquila  and  the  milky  way. 


^  g  m  t^  r$L  #  199 

Without  sorrow  none  become  saints. 

It  is  regrettable  to  say  that  Chin  could  not  make  up 
his  mind  to  choose  one  Esther  and  keep  to  her;  he 
never  let  it  be  known  where  he  intended  to  spend  the 
night,  and  so  frustrated  all  plots  that  might  build  upon 
his  hours  of  ease  to  take  advantage  of  his  being  off 
guard. 

Put  all  these  things  together,  and  we  can  tell  what  an 
outstanding  man  was  Chin.  If  nothing  else  stood  to 
his  credit,  we  see  that  he  welded  a  group  of  vassal  states 
into  one  realm,  that  he  conquered  others  and  trebled  the 
size  of  his  dominions,  that  he  so  organized  the  whole  as 
to  create  one  empire  which  has  for  two  thousand  years 
been  acknowledged  as  a  unity.  What  other  man  in  the 
world  has  done  as  much?  But  there  are  two  special 
points  about  his  doings,  constructive  and  destructive; 
he  built  a  Wall,  he  burned  the  classics. 

For  five  hundred  years  before  Chin  the  wild  tribes 
of  the  desert  had  been  a  terror  to  the  more  settled  peo- 
ple of  the  Yellow  River  basin.  They  were  the  Bedouin 
of  the  East,  fierce  and  untamed,  preying  on  the  labors 
of  the  peaceable  agriculturists.  Such  people  are  the 
despair  of  all  civilized  rulers  abutting  on  deserts.  They 
have  compelled  one  ruler  after  another  to  embark  on 
wars  of  self-defense  which  involved  seeking  out  the 
marauders  and  punishing  them  in  their  own  wide 
steppes,  and  which  have  led  too  often  to  annexation  in 
spite  of  all  wishes  and  promises  to  the  contrary.  The 
bounds  of  the  Roman  Empire  thus  widened,  though 
ruler  after  ruler  saw  the  risk  of  stretching  too  far;  the 
Indian  Empire  has  grown  on  every  side  in  order  to 


200  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

control  the  border  tribes  who  would  raid,  and  could  only 
be  controlled  by  being  annexed  and  disarmed;  Egyptian 
rulers  have  been  obliged  to  go  into  the  Sudan  and  ad- 
minister it;  Russia  has  been  compelled  to  flow  steadily 
on  into  Asia;  the  United  States  have  absorbed  the 
Indian  lands  to  keep  the  Indians  quiet;  it  is  the  same 
story  wherever  civilization  and  thievery  adjoin.  Now 
the  peculiarity  of  Chin  is  that  he  struck  out  a  different 
line.  Rather  than  flow  out  over  all  Asia,  he  decided 
how  far  he  would  go,  and  decided  that  the  Tartars 
should  not  come  this  side  of  his  line.  On  his  line  he 
built  a  Wall,  and  along  the  Wall  he  quartered  an  army 
in  permanent  garrison.  He  defined  a  clear  and  explicit 
Monroe  doctrine  for  eastern  Asia,  and  marked  the 
boundaries  with  a  visible  token  that  the  most  dull  of 
visitors  could  not  fail  to  understand ;  nor  did  he  rest  his 
case  on  a  reserve  of  moral  force,  but  backed  it  with  a 
grand  display  of  available  physical  force.  To  say 
"Thus  far  and  no  farther"  is  easy,  but  Canute  found 
the  sea  paid  no  heed;  to  build  masonry  to  dam  out  the 
tide  shows  that  the  fiat  is  no  empty  boast;  but  in  the 
last  resort  it  is  the  men  behind  the  masonry  that  will 
tell. 

A  Wall  across  half  a  continent !  A  wall  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Kansas  City!  A  wall  from  Constantinople 
to  Marseilles!  Talk  about  the  "long  walls"  of  Athens, 
talk  about  the  Thermopylae — there  is  no  comparison. 
Thermopylae  was  a  narrow  pass  with  every  advantage 
for  its  defenders,  yet  they  were  beaten  in  three  days. 
Chin  had  to  deal  with  a  vast  plain  for  hundreds  of  miles, 
yet  he  undertook  to  wall  in  a  section  and  defend  it;  and 


•%mm  0  sm  h  gmm#}&%#     201 

In  days  of  plenty,  think  of  days  of  poverty  ;  don't 
wait  till  days  of  poverty  to  think  of  days  of  plenty. 

his  work  was  effectual  for  centuries,  so  long  as  there 
were  men  who  felt  the  importance  of  making  a  stand. 
Nothing  daunted  Chin  in  carrying  out  this  project; 
were  the  mountains  a  mile  high,  his  engineers  crowned 
them  with  his  rampart ;  was  the  plain  a  mere  dust  heap, 
then  a  series  of  ha-has  made  an  effectual  barrier.  Dis- 
appointment generally  awaits  the  mortal  who  has 
heard  much  about  some  celebrated  object,  and  dares 
visit  it,  as  seldom  does  the  reality  come  up  to  the  expec- 
tation. But  the  Great  Wall  is  not  overrated.  Behold 
it  bjr  starlight  or  moonlight,  gaze  on  it  in  twilight  or  in 
sunlight;  view  it  through  the  haze  of  a  dust  fog  or  the 
spindrift  of  a  rain  shower  or  between  the  flakes  of  a 
snow  storm ;  ever  is  the  Wall  one  great,  gray,  gaunt,  still 
specter  of  the  past,  cresting  the  mountain  peak  or  re- 
posing in  the  shady  valley.  So  vast  is  it,  that  perhaps 
alone  of  all  man's  handiwork  it  could  be  discerned  from 
the  moon.  So  vast  is  it,  that  were  its  materials  disposed 
around  the  world  at  the  equator  they  would  provide  a 
wall  eight  feet  high  and  three  thick.  When  we  reflect 
on  the  labor  needed  to  erect  it,  we  slowly  divine  the  toils 
exacted  from  countless  thousands,  the  sweat  and  tears 
and  blood  that  must  have  been  shed;  and  we  are  pre- 
pared to  hear  that  after  two  millenniums  the  name  of 
Chin  is  cursed  all  along  the  Wall  by  the  descendants  of 
those  who  were  driven  to  the  hateful  task,  who  labored 
in  deathly  fear  lest  when  flesh  and  blood  failed  to  re- 
spond to  the  task-master's  scourge,  that  flesh  and  blood 
should  be  hurled  into  the  mass  of  concrete  to  provide 


202  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

more  material  for  the  all- devouring  monster.  It  is  a 
wall  of  blood! 

Chin  burned  the  books!  What  possessed  him  to  do  it? 
Did  he  object  to  penny  dreadfuls  corrupting  the  minds 
of  the  boys,  and  halfpenny  yellow  papers  debauching 
his  subjects?  Was  he  a  Henry  VIII,  afraid  of  the 
heretical  notions  of  some  Tyndale  and  Luther?  Quite 
the  contrary;  he  was  very  progressive,  and  the  books 
were  too  conservative.  Three  centuries  before  Chin, 
Confucius  had  undertaken  to  sift  over  all  the  literature 
that  was  extant,  and  to  produce  classic  editions  of  what 
was  worth  having.  This  generation  has  seen  big  syndi- 
cates at  work  on  the  same  sort  of  selection;  the  best 
hundred  books,  the  historian's  history  of  the  world,  etc. 
Now,  ever  since  Confucius  put  out  a  closed  canon  of 
classic  literature,  all  production  had  been  cramped. 
Boys  were  obliged  to  learn  it  by  heart,  and  to  compose 
essays  in  the  same  style.  Men  were  obliged  to  behave 
in  a  certain  way  because  a  duke  of  Chou  a  thousand 
years  earlier  had  recommended  this  way;  and  his  Book 
of  Rites  prescribes  what  every  person  ought  to  do  in 
every  conceivable  situation.  Chin  saw  that  his  kingdom 
was  stereotyped  on  a  pattern  already  three  hundred 
years  old,  and  he  wanted  men  to  think  for  themselves 
and  adapt  their  lives  to  the  ever-changing  problems  of 
life.  Of  course  he  failed  to  convince  the  scholars  of 
this ;  reverence  for  the  past  was  ingrained  too  deeply. 

Now  Chin  had  already  fallen  foul  of  the  scholars  on 
a  personal  matter.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  found 
that  his  mother  had  forgotten  her  royal  rank  and  had 
contracted  a  marriage  with  a  commoner,  whom  she  had 


W-  W.  =  R  %  *  —  B  2:  IS        203 

Ice  three  feet  tbick  is  not  frozen  in  a  day. 

loved  before  his  own  birth.  This  aspiring  husband  was 
slain,  the  erring  mother  was  banished.  This  was  so 
against  the  ideas  of  filial  duty  inculcated  by  Confucius 
that  several  scholars  expostulated.  An  edict  forbade 
the  matter  to  be  referred  to  again,  and  when  some  of 
them  ventured  to  plead  for  her,  twenty-seven  were  exe- 
cuted for  disobedience.  Such  is  the  story  that  their 
friends  tell,  but  we  may  imagine  that  Chin  could  add  a 
few  highly  relevant  facts. 

Chin  decided  to  have  the  question  of  policy  openly 
settled,  and  he  did  it  in  a  characteristic  fashion.  To  a 
great  feast  he  invited  all  the  chief  officers  of  his  empire 
and  all  the  leading  scholars.  After  dinner  he  requested 
general  criticism  of  his  doings,  and  three  typical 
speeches  are  reported.  A  civil  servant  gave  his  opinion, 
which  was  of  unbounded  satisfaction  with  the  results  of 
the  new  regime.  A  scholar  took  a  very  different  view, 
contrasting  the  methods  with  those  of  earlier  days;  this 
was  highly  impolitic  when  Chin's  pride  in  his  originality 
and  his  antagonism  to  earlier  methods  were  so  notorious ; 
Chin  therefore  interrupted  him  and  called  upon  his 
chancellor  Li-Ssu.  This  man  had  been  trained,  not  by 
the  scholars,  but  in  a  sort  of  seminary  for  ministers  of 
state,  conducted  on  novel  principles  by  a  private  man; 
he  had  presented  himself  to  Chin  when  an  edict  was 
issued  for  the  expulsion  of  foreigners,  professedly  to 
take  his  leave ;  but  in  that  interview  persuaded  Chin  that 
the  project  was  suicidal.  He  was  requested  to  stay  and 
soon  became  Chin's  Bismarck,  inspiring  the  policy  of 
conquest,  now  so  successful.     The  speech  he  now  de- 


204  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

livered  was  a  tremendous  philippic  against  scholars; 
here  are  its  chief  points: 

"Beware  these  idling  scholars.  Bred  on  the  past  with 
senseless  veneration  of  everything  that  is  old,  they  can- 
not appreciate  anything  fresh.  If  you  issue  an  edict, 
they  criticize  its  language;  if  you  order  a  new  project, 
they  declare  it  is  unprecedented.  Their  one  test  is,  has 
it  been  done  before?  They  go  about  sowing  unrest  and 
sedition  among  your  subjects.  Their  influence  must 
be  broken  if  the  empire  is  to  prosper.  It  is  founded  on 
books;  destroy  then  the  books.  Their  occupation  will 
be  gone,  and  none  can  arise  to  succeed  this  generation 
of  them.  Some  books  of  course  there  are  which  are  of 
value.  Preserve  all  that  relate  to  medicine,  husbandry 
and  divination;  preserve  also  the  records  of  this  illus- 
trious reign.  Let  all  else  be  destroyed,  break  with  the 
past.  Especially  let  search  be  made  for  all  books  on 
manners,  and  for  all  the  annals  of  history  that  deaden 
the  mind  to  present  needs;  let  them  utterly  perish. 
Law,  too,  there  must  be,  but  let  it  not  be  the  dead  hand 
of  the  past;  gather  the  edicts  of  this  reign  and  cause 
them  to  be  codified  as  a  guide  for  the  future.  Then 
with  natural  science,  religion,  medicine  and  law,  be 
content,  and  let  the  mere  literary  classics  cease  to  curse 
the  land!" 

The  speech  of  the  chancellor  fell  upon  willing  ears, 
and  the  edict  went  forth  as  he  advised.  Drastic  as  the 
policy  was,  it  well-nigh  met  with  success.  Printing  was 
not  yet  invented,  nor  was  till  600  a.d.  Nor  yet  was 
writing  in  our  sense;  the  literature  was  carved  on  bam- 
boo tablets,  and  this  was  evidently  a  slow  process,  while 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by   Dr.    Geil 

A  superb  view  of  the  Great  Wall  ascending  from  the  lofty  Huangho   Lu 
Pass 


#  ffl.  %  itn  ®  tf?  205 

Obedience  is  better  tban  reverence. 

the  result  was  very  combustible  and  very  bulky. 
"Books,"  if  we  may  call  them  so,  were  slow  to  produce, 
hard  to  conceal,  easy  to  destroy;  and  he  ordered  a 
wholesale  destruction.  Thirty  days  of  grace  were 
given,  and  then  any  one  owning  a  book  should  be 
branded  and  sent  to  work  at  the  Wall  for  four  years. 

In  the  thirty  days  great  were  the  perturbations.  A 
few  copies  were  buried  or  hidden  among  rafters  or  sunk 
in  rivers.  The  scholars  feared  personal  violence,  and 
a  descendant  of  Confucius  was  advised  to  flee  into  con- 
cealment. With  the  bravery  of  innocence  he  replied 
that  he  should  live  a  quiet  and  loyal  life,  awaiting  a 
summons  when  Chin  found  out  his  mistake.  His  coun- 
sel did  not  persuade  his  brethren,  and  when  Chin  found 
that  there  was  an  organized  resistance  to  his  edict,  he 
buried  alive  more  than  four  hundred  of  the  scholars  as 
a  warning  that  he  intended  to  break  with  the  past  and 
to  begin  anew.  He  was  the  "Only  First,"  and  woe 
betide  those  who  tried  to  go  behind  him  and  fetter  his 
people  with  the  dead  hand. 

Out  of  all  the  classic  literature  he  permitted  only  the 
medical,  agricultural  and  divination  books  to  be  saved. 
Of  course  "religion"  had  been  a  very  curious  thing  in 
China,  especially  since  the  agnostic  reforms  of  Con- 
fucius; Buddhism  had  not  penetrated  round  the  Hima- 
layas as  yet,  and  the  religion  was  little  better  than  magic 
and  divination.  But  compare  what  Chin  condemned 
and  what  he  saved !  The  paralyzing  Book  of  Rites  was 
to  go;  the  Book  of  Changes,  which  is  an  incomprehen- 
sible  system  of  philosophy  supplemented   with  some 


206  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

inexplicable  chapters  by  Confucius;  the  Book  of  His- 
tory, which  professes  to  begin  two  thousand  two  hundred 
years  before  Chin,  but  details  chiefly  imaginary  conver- 
sations between  kings  and  their  viziers;  the  Book  of 
Odes,  which,  indeed,  are  rather  harmless  and  beautiful 
folk-songs;  and  the  dreariest  Book  of  Annals  conceiv- 
able, where  every  petty  incident  that  happened  to  a 
miniature  court  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  is  set 
down  without  comment.  Add  to  these  five  classics  the 
four  books,  whose  refrain  is  "Walk  in  the  trodden 
paths,"  and  you  see  that  Chin  was  not  badly  advised 
when  he  decided  to  warm  up  his  people  with  the  bundles 
of  bamboos  that  inculcated  such  teaching.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  recognized  the  benefits  of  medicine,  he  wished 
to  conserve  the  art  of  tillage,  and  he  honored  the  best 
that  he  knew  of  religion.  All  praise  to  Chin  for  his 
discrimination ! 

Unfortunately  for  the  success  of  his  measures,  he 
had  planned  them  rather  too  late  in  his  career.  He  was 
but  fifty  years  of  age,  and  might  have  hoped  for  a  time 
of  rest  and  consolidation;  but  he  had  lived  the  strenu- 
ous life,  and  weakened  his  constitution.  To  the  last, 
however,  he  was  a  busy  and  energetic  ruler,  and  death 
overtook  him  as  he  was  on  a  tour  of  inspection  far  from 
his  capital,  in  the  province  of  Shantung.  His  last  mes- 
sage was  to  his  eldest  son,  then  at  the  Great  Wall.  In 
the  seventh  moon  of  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his 
reign  he  joined  his  ancestors,  ascending  to  the  heavens 
from  Sha  Kuan  near  Shuntehfu. 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  the  great  hero.  How  did 
his  project  fare  of  ending  the  tyranny  of  the  past,  and 


*7  j&r..--    *****■> 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Qeil 

Two  views  of  the  same  Tower  at  Shichingtsi,  Province  of   Kansu. 
The  pictures  show  how  the  Wall  was  joined  on  to  the  Towers 


$  *  IS  &  *  ff  'k  2°7 

A  glassful  of  water  cannot  quench  a  cartful  of  burn- 
ing grass. 

throwing  China  on  its  present  resources?  Much  as  it 
fared  with  the  French  revolution,  when  after  Napoleon 
was  untrue  to  its  principles,  the  Bourbons  came  back, 
having  forgotten  nothing  and  learned  nothing.  The 
scholars  had  been  put  upon  their  mettle  by  Chin,  and 
they  circumvented  him.  Instead  of  bamboo  they  used 
silken  fabric,  instead  of  a  sharp  stylo  they  used  a  brush, 
invented  by  the  very  general  who  superintended  the 
building  of  the  Wall,  and  they  painted  copies  of  the 
classics  on  a  material  not  hitherto  suspected  of  connec- 
tion with  literature,  capable  of  being  hidden  in  small 
compass.  Thus  the  indirect  result  of  Chin's  fires  was 
to  make  literature  far  more  accessible  and  much  more 
easily  recorded.  He  very  nearly  rooted  out  some  of 
the  old  rubbish,  but  one  old  man  was  found  to  have 
memorized  twenty-eight  per  cent,  of  the  Book  of  His- 
tory, and  a  girl  contributed  another  section,  while,  when 
the  house  of  Confucius  was  being  restored  a  century 
later,  a  copy  of  the  whole  work  came  to  light.  To  avert 
any  further  destruction,  the  Five  Classics  and  the  Four 
Books  were  carved  on  stone  tablets,  which  yet  adorn  the 
court  of  the  Hall  of  the  Classics,  Peking.  By  that  time 
woven  silk  had  been  found  too  expensive,  and  had  been 
replaced  by  a  paste  or  thin  felt  of  cheap  fibers,  made 
from  twine,  rags,  bark — in  a  word,  by  paper.  And  so 
to  Chin  and  his  fight  with  the  scholars  we  owe  this 
material  which  is  now  used  by  all  the  civilized  world  for 
literature. 

It  is  bad  for  a  man  to  quarrel  with  the  students  and 
writers  of  books.     If  he  can  destroy  every  book  and 


208  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

every  scholar,  he  has  won;  but  if  he  leaves  one  scholar, 
that  embittered  man  can  slander  him  to  all  posterity. 
The  wise  man  will  subsidize  the  wishes  and  writers  of 
books ;  he  will  endow  universities  and  hope  that  the  pro- 
fessors will  wink  at  his  doings;  he  will  build  libraries, 
and  give  scholarships  to  students  who  will  be  naturally 
grateful  and  will  honor  his  memory.  The  men  who 
have  been  crushed  out  of  business  may  curse  him,  the 
employees  who  have  been  ground  down  to  starvation 
wage  may  rise  in  revolt  and  be  slain  outright;  but  if 
they  have  not  the  means  to  get  into  literature,  the  mat- 
ter will  blow  over.  Then  the  scholars  will  write  well  of 
the  good  points  in  their  benefactor,  and  the  libraries 
will  perpetuate  his  name.  But  let  a  man  oppose  the 
students  and  adopt  a  progressive  policy;  the  monk  stu- 
dents will  distort  his  deeds  in  their  chronicles,  and  the 
scribe  students  will  plot  his  death;  the  scholar  students 
will  write  down  the  great  Chin  as  a  tyrant! 

But  the  spirit  of  Chin  is  awake  to-day.  The  halls  of 
the  schools  are  once  more  swept  of  the  classical  rubbish, 
and  the  people  are  being  taught  again  to  face  the  living 
present.  The  defenses  of  the  empire  are  being  set  in 
order  against  the  hordes  from  Siberia  and  Russia. 
Roads  are  being  made  of  steel  to  bind  together  the 
provinces,  and  enable  the  empire  to  realize  herself. 
Chin  was  the  man  of  his  age,  and  if  another  Chin  arise 
to-day  to  attract  the  veneration  of  his  people,  China 
will  be  the  first  of  the  nations.  Whatever  nation  shall 
dash  itself  against  her  will  stumble;  whatever  nation 
China  precipitates  herself  on,  will  be  ground  to  powder. 


CHAPTER  XV 

The  Mound  of  Chin 

The  mighty  Chin  had  passed  away  far  from  the  cen- 
ter of  his  realm.  But  before  his  death  a  site  had  been 
chosen  for  his  body  to  rest  in,  ninety  li  from  his  capital 
in  a  lucky  spot  designated  by  those  professors  whose 
magic  he  had  respected.  Here  great  preparations  had 
been  made,  and  it  devolved  upon  his  son  and  heir  only 
to  finish  the  work  and  celebrate  the  obsequies  in  state. 
How  legend  has  gathered  about  the  tale  we  have  al- 
ready noted,  and  from  the  lips  of  peasants  on  the  spot 
shall  recount  again  here.  For  who  in  studying  the 
Great  Wall  of  Chin  can  neglect  paying  respects  at  the 
great  Mound  of  Chin? 

Feared  he  may  have  been  rather  than  revered,  slan- 
dered by  the  whole  caste  of  effete  students  of  the  clas- 
sics, unable  to  comprehend  how  great  a  ruler  had  been 
in  their  midst.  But  at  least  filial  piety  reared  in  his 
honor  this  massive  Mound,  which,  after  two  millen- 
niums and  more,  attests  the  greatness  of  the  man  to 
whose  honor  is  heaped  this  greatest  of  all  monuments. 
Heaped  of  sand  earth  as  it  was,  it  could  not  tower  at  a 
sharp  angle  like  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  but  each  side 
of  its  base  is  half  as  large  again  as  the  largest  of  these. 

The  Mound  of  Chin  first  becomes  visible  from  high 
ground  on  the  farther  side  of  Sulphur  City,  Eintung, 
four  miles  away.     From  that  distance  it  looks  like  a 

14  209 


210 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


foothill  of  the  Black  Horse  Mountain,  though  it  is,  in 
reality,  about  a  mile  from  the  mountain  range. 

The  height  of  the  Mound,  including  its  base,  which 
varies  from  six  to  twelve  feet,  is  estimated  at  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet.  But  it  is  not  so  much  for  its 
height  that  the  Mound  is  noticeable,  as  for  its  size. 
Each  of  its  four  sides  measures  nearly  three  hundred 
and  fifty  yards  in  length,  making  a  square  of  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  yards  or  something  over  twenty-five 
English  acres.  This  is  only  the  actual  Mound,  the  sides 
of  which  follow  the  four  cardinal  points. 


^5E    fk 

CH'IN  WANG  LING 

KING  CHINS  MOUND 


3r'0   YARDS    SIDE 

Chinese  drawing:  of  the  Mound  of  Chin.  Bare  earth  edge  all  around  .  .  .  rock- 
stone  here  and  there  just  above  the  edge. . .  .  Shown  by  the  compass  to  have 
sides  exactly  North,  East,  South,  West ....  2000  years  ago  the  cardinal 
points  were  known.  .  .  .  Said  to  have  contained,  as  all  Imperial  Mounds,  a 
palace,  and  valuables.  .  .  .  The  first  attempt  to  break  it  open  was  soon  after 
its  making  but  was  unsuccessful.  .  .  .  Later  it  was  rifled.  .  .  .  His  power  was 
suggested  by  his  "Boots,"  "Magic  Whip,"  "Measuring  Rule,"  which  were 

likely  buried  in  this  Mound  anil  afterward  stolen Chin  has  been  regarded 

as  the  "Unprincipled  Prince." 


Surrounding  the  Mound  is  a  wall  called  the  "inner 
encompassing  wall,"  which  contains  about  eighty  acres. 
As  the  country  is  somewhat  terraced,  it  is  difficult  to 


#4HSI#ff#:*iiJM&         211 

Learning  is  like  rowing  up  stream,  not  to  advance 
is  to  drop  back. 

estimate  the  so-called  boundaries  (except  perhaps  the 
very  pronounced  hump  to  the  south),  which  do  not  in- 
close a  perfect  square,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Mound 
proper. 

But  still  we  have  not  viewed  the  whole  area  con- 
nected with  the  imperial  tomb.  There  was  said  to  have 
been  an  "outer  encompassing  wall"  which  was  supposed 
to  contain  over  one  hundred  and  ninety  acres.  No 
wonder  the  farmer,  a  third  of  a  mile  away  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  mountains,  can  point  to  a  spot  just  below 
his  house  as  the  outer  boundary.  The  legend  says  that 
from  the  outer  boundary  a  connected  cave  runs  into 
the  mountain,  and  that  at  the  end  of  this  cave  is  a  sea  of 
quicksilver. 

To  return  to  the  actual  Mound:  there  is  no  wall  or 
monument  to  be  seen.  The  outer  edge,  however,  being 
slightly  raised  all  around,  shows  there  was  once  a  wall. 
Then,  again,  the  four  "humps"  on  the  lines  from  the 
top  to  the  four  corners,  suggest  that  the  Mound  was 
once  terraced,  as  seen  in  the  surrounding  country,  and 
very  pronouncedly  in  the  mound  of  a  certain  general, 
Han,  who  lived  a  few  tens  of  years  later.  There  is  a 
distinct  elevation  line  visible  across  one  side  and  is  more 
or  less  distinct  on  the  other  sides. 

It  is  remarkable  that  there  should  be  no  monument, 
nor  the  usual  stone  tigers  and  stone  men  in  pairs.  The 
filial  emperor  Ch'ien  Lung  (1736-1796  a.d.)  had  monu- 
ments erected,  if  lacking,  in  the  case  of  every  other 
imperial  tomb  in  the  district.  This  absence  of  a  stone 
was  remarkable  when  we  consider  that  other  founders 


212  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

of  dynasties,  as  the  T'ang,  have  several.  Eighteen 
miles  away  lies  the  stone  in  honor  of  the  Kan  emperor 
who  actually  finished  the  Wall;  prone  and  split,  it  yet 
remains.  It  is  reported  among  the  Chinese  that  the 
reputation  of  the  king  was  so  bad  that  no  one  would 
erect  a  monument  to  his  memory.  For  the  same  reason, 
so  it  is  said,  there  are  no  sacrifices  offered  at  set  periods 
in  his  honor,  as  is  the  usual  custom. 

The  Mound  has  not  the  regular  surface  so  marked  in 
the  mound  of  the  first  Han  eighteen  miles  away;  not 
only  is  there  the  inward  dip,  or  bay,  in  each  side  as  con- 
trasted with  the  pronounced  rise  of  the  line  to  the  cor- 
ners ;  there  are  also  various  minor  humps.  The  Mound 
is  constructed  of  sand  brought  by  soldiers  who  stood  in 
a  line  from  the  River  Wei,  sixteen  miles  north  of  this 
place,  and  passed  it  on  from  one  to  the  other. 

The  various  grasses  and  flowering  plants  found  on 
the  Mound  have  very  descriptive  and  graphic  names. 
As  they  were  plucked,  the  natives  standing  by  readily 
called  out  "old  woman's  needle,"  "ox  knee,"  "sow's  ear," 
"blacksmith's  brush,"  "scorpion's  sting,"  "rice  flower 
jar,"  "weasel  grass,"  "sheep's-fat  bush,"  "parrot 
frame,"  "horse  hoof,"  "tiger's  claws,"  "hare  flower," 
"cat's  eyes,"  and  so  on  ad  infinitum.  So  even  the  deso- 
late Mound  of  Chin,  in  spite  of  the  bits  of  rock  scattered 
here  and  there,  has  its  flowers  and  grasses  suggestive 
of  animal  life.  But  the  villagers  say  that  no  animal 
will  eat  the  grass. 

On  ascending  the  Mound,  being  careful  to  avoid  the 
burrows  which  frequently  occur,  large  enough  to  be 
the  lairs  of  the  fox  or  the  wolf,  the  summit  will  be 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
A    Picturesque   View 


m  m  51  m  n  f#  n  &  m  a      213 

A  teacher  can  lead  us  into  the  porch,  but  culture 
depends  on  self. 

found  to  be  a  comparatively  level  rectangle,  in  size 
twenty-eight  yards  east  and  west  by  fourteen  yards 
north  and  south. 

Situation  of  Mound  of  Chin:  Standing  on  the  top 
the  view  is  ricli  in  historical  and  legendary  associations. 
On  the  north  flows  the  Wei  River,  by  which  the  abo- 
rigines, when  hard  pressed,  went  south  in  days  of  yore ; 
and  farther  on  are  the  Northern  Mountains  with  the 
Camel's  Hair  Mountain  standing  out  by  itself  to  the 
northwest;  south  is  the  Black  Horse  Mountain  Range 
stretching  for  miles  and  miles  east  and  west.  On  the 
east  is  the  guard  station  of  Hsienfung,  called  the  Silver 
Treasury,  six  miles  off  on  the  great  road ;  beyond  it  the 
city  of  Weinan,  and  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  pass  of 
T'ungkwan,  where  the  provinces  of  Shense,  Shansi,  and 
Honan  meet  at  the  Yellow  River,  ninety  miles  from  the 
capital. 

To  the  west,  two  and  a  half  miles,  is  the  city  of 
Lint'ung,  noted  for  its  sulphur  springs  over  against 
the  mountains  where  the  water  issues,  hot  to  the  hand. 
This  was  made  more  famous  by  the  visits  of  the 
emperor  and  empress  dowager  when  flying  from  the 
hated  "outsider"  in  1900.  These  visits  meant  hope  of 
life  to  the  famine-stricken  inhabitants  because  of  the 
grain  distributed.  Fifteen  miles  west  of  Lint'ung  is 
famous  Sian,  said  to  have  been  longer  the  capital  than 
any  other  city,  and  even  now  called  the  best  governed 
city  in  the  empire,  with  its  huge  gate  towers  containing 
forty-eight  eyes,  or  port-holes,  above  fourfold,  two- 
leaved  gates  leading  into  a  broad  street  three  miles  long. 


214  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

South  of  the  Mound  are  two  small  temples  erected  to 
one  of  the  Chinese  Triplets,  and  so  called  the  Three 
Kings'  Temples.  The  nearer  of  these  two  temples  is 
by  a  locust  tree,  and  faces  a  corner  of  the  Mound  at  a 
slight  elevation  above  the  general  level.  Within  are 
the  tawdry  forms  of  the  three  mud-made  gods,  and  one 
or  two  attendants.  These  gods  are  Yo  Wang,  the 
medicine  king,  who  is  interested  in  human  ills;  Ma 
Wang,  the  horse  king,  who  looks  after  the  ailments  of 
horses,  mules  and  donkeys;  and  Niu  Wang,  the  cattle 
king,  who  attends  to  the  diseases  of  cattle. 

Yo  Wang  was  originally  a  certain  Sun  Ssu  Miao, 
who  was  deified  for  healing  the  wife  of  Tai  Tsung,  of 
the  T'ang  dynasty,  under  whom  Christianity  was  intro- 
duced, as  recorded  on  the  Nestorian  tablet  in  the  forest 
of  monuments  at  Sian.  Sun,  as  is  recorded  on  the  mon- 
ument near  Yao  Chow,  forty  odd  miles  away  to  the 
north,  gave  the  empress  four  doses  of  medicine,  and,  to 
use  the  Chinese  expression  "saved  the  peril."  The 
emperor  offered  him  a  bushel  of  gold  and  silver,  which 
he  declined  with  the  request  that  the  Son  of  Heaven 
would  deify  him  as  medicine  king,  in  payment  for  his 
services.  T'ai  Tsung  consented,  and  gave  him  a  yellow 
gown  and  a  winged  hat,  which  Sun,  thanking  the  king, 
put  on  and  set  off  on  his  return  to  Yao  Chow.  But  T'ai 
Tsung  had  an  honored  statesman,  called  Ching  Tei,1 
who  was  very  jealous  and  displeased;  riding  a  tiger,  he 
took  five  thousand  soldiers  to  pursue  Sun  and  kill  him. 
Sun,  seeing  from  afar  the  soldiers  pursuing  him,  quickly 
crushed  down  the  wings  of  the  hat  and  turned  the  yel- 

1  Cannot  identify. 


m§k—mMmm.-- 1$  3      215 

With  money  you  are  a  dragon,  without  it  a  grub. 

low  gown  inside  out  to  make  it  a  red  gown.  When 
Ching  came  up  and  saw  this  he  could  say  nothing,  but 
simply  asked  Sun  where  he  was  going.  Sun  answered, 
to  the  mountains  near  Yao  Chow  to  perfect  holiness. 
"If  you  are  entering  on  holiness,"  said  Ching  Tei,  "I 
will  stand  beside  you  and  serve  you." 

The  name  of  the  horse  king  was  Huang  Wentan.1 
This  man  in  descending  from  his  horse  was  injured  by 
the  goblins  possessing  the  horse.  After  death  his  spirit 
was  not  dissipated,  but  saw  the  Pearl  Emperor,  who 
pitied  it  and  gave  it  a  sword  with  which  to  behead  the 
goblins,  a  seal  to  overturn  the  heavens,  a  looking-glass 
with  which  to  daze  the  goblins,  a  map  of  the  great 
extreme,  and  a  fire  calabash.  Half  of  the  map  of  the 
great  extreme  was  Yang,  the  male  principle,  and  the 
other  half  was  Yin,  the  female  principle.  By  holding 
this  map  face  upwards  it  would  conquer  the  most  violent 
spirits. 

The  fire  gourd  was  full  of  fire  and  would  send  its 
light  a  great  distance  and  destroy  evil  spirits.  The 
Pig  of  the  Eight  Commandments  has  a  sow's  head  and 
human  form  and  takes  its  name  from  its  observance  of 
the  eight  commandments  of  the  Buddhists.  The  Pearl 
Emperor  helped  Huang  Wentan  and  deified  him  as 
Horse  King. 

As  to  the  cattle  king:  at  the  time  of  the  feudal  king- 
doms there  was  a  man  named  Yao  Hsieh  whose  master 
had  an  enemy  named  King  Ching,  upon  whom  Yao 
Hsieh  wished  to  wreak  vengeance.     For  this  reason  he 

1  Cannot  identify. 


216  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

deserted  to  King  Ching,  wishing,  he  averred,  to  serve 
him.  The  king,  suspecting  treason,  refused  his  services, 
for  he  feared  he  was  a  spy.  Yao  Hsieh  returned  to  his 
master  saying,  "Slay  my  wife,  burn  the  corpse  in  the 
road  where  all  may  see  it,  and  then  cut  off  my  right 
arm."  The  second  time  Yao  Lee  went  to  deliver  him- 
self to  King  Ching  the  king  had  already  heard  how  his 
master  had  slain  his  wife  and  cut  off  his  arm,  and  forth- 
with received  Yao  Lee  to  eat  and  drink  with  him,  wish- 
ing to  know  his  master's  private  affairs.  King  Ching 
and  Yao  seated  themselves  together  in  a  boat,  and  when 
they  reached  deep  water  Yao  with  one  thrust  of  his 
spear  pierced  King  Ching  through  the  heart.  This  is 
called  "Yao's  piercing  of  Ching."  After  Yao  died  the 
Pearl  Emperor  deified  him  as  Cattle  King  to  look  after 
the  cattle  that  plow  the  fields. 

South  of  this  temple  to  the  Three  Kings  are  two  vil- 
lages of  the  Ch'en  clan,  who  are  as  prosperous  as  their 
persimmon,  apricot  and  apple  trees.  They  also  have 
varnish,  locust,  and  numerous  elm  trees.  In  the  back- 
ground stretches  the  Black  Horse  Mountain  Range,  on 
a  hump  of  which  is  the  "Old  Mother"  hall.  It  is  said 
that  in  the  beginning  there  was  an  opening  in  the  heav- 
ens and  the  Old  Mother  smelted  stone  and  filled  up  the 
gap.    She  afterward  formed  the  world ! 

The  natives  have  a  tradition  that  in  the  first  year  of 
the  Ming  dynasty  (1368-1644  a.d.)  there  appeared  on 
the  Mound  of  Chin,  every  night  after  the  third  watch, 
midnight,  an  earthen  lamp  which  became  by  the  fifth 
watch  bright  beyond  measure.  And  it  is  held  that  the 
golden  fowl  belonging  to  the  Old  Mother  of  the  Black 


tit  5E  to  ft  #  *  to  217 

It  is  the  good  swimmer  that  gets  drowned. 

Horse  Mountain  flew  into  this  mound,  and  every  night 
there  was  a  long-continued  cry! 

In  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Chia  Ch'ing  of 
this  Great  Pure  Dynasty  (1797  a.d.)  ,  Yao  Chi-Fu,  head 
of  the  robbers  of  the  White  Lily  sect,  and  a  woman,  Chi 
Wang-hsi,  and  others  created  a  disturbance.  Chou  Chi- 
Shan,  a  member  of  another  sect,  hearing  of  their  strange 
behavior,  first  buried  a  phoenix  and  two  lamps  in  the 
Mound  of  Shih  Huang  and  afterwards  entered  the 
robber's  cave  and  suggested  a  stratagem.  "The  Great 
King  wishes  to  take  the  capital  of  Shensi.  My  teacher 
says,  'A  great  jar  cannot  be  broken  into  without  a  rent, 
and  celery  cannot  be  cooked  without  fire.'  ( Now  Shensi's 
old  name  was  'the  Jar  Prefecture.'  Shensi  is  also  called 
Chin,  Chou,  and  Chin,  celery).  If  you  wish  to  take 
Shensi's  capital,  first  dig  into  Shih  Huang's  Mound 
from  the  southwest  corner  and  find  a  phoenix  and  a 
golden  lamp."  The  soldiers  were  forthwith  bidden  to 
go  with  Taoist  priests,  and  on  opening  the  Mound  they 
discovered  the  phoenix  and  brass  lamp.  The  Taoist 
Chi  Shan  said  "Feng  (a  phoenix)  is  the  equivalent  of 
Feng  (a  seam) .  Lamp  signifies  'have  a  fire.' '  There- 
upon Yao  Chi-Fu  and  the  widow  Chi  used  fire  and 
burned  all  the  villages  of  Shensi  and  the  two  pagodas 
south  of  Sianfu. 

In  the  third  year  of  Hsien  Feng  (1853) ,  the  chief  of 
the  Long-haired  Robbers,  the  small  King  Yen  (a 
Chinese  Pluto),  named  Chang  Tsung-Yu,  entered 
Shensi  with  eighty  thousand  soldiers.  With  him  was  a 
great  general,  Lao  San- Shun,  who  inquired  for  a  won- 


218  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

derful  man — T'ien  Chia  Ching,  of  Chianwang,  a  village 
east  of  Sian.    T'ien  said,  "I  have  received  Liao  Kung's 
Buddhist  dictionary  and  am  well  versed  in  strange  de- 
vices and  can  obtain  Chin   Shih  Huang's   'Drive  the 
Mountains    Whip,'    'Ascend    the    Clouds    Boots'    and 
'Sword  for  Dividing  the  Ground'  which  the  robber  Hu- 
ang Tsao  left  in  the  grave."  Lao  San  Shun  then  ordered 
a  powerful  general  to  take  all  the  soldiers  under  his  com- 
mand and  get  these  important  historical  articles.    Just 
as  they  had  finished  digging  a  path  into  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  Mound  of  Chin,  thirty-five  feet  or  more 
in  length,  a  violent  storm  of  wind,  rain,  hail,  thunder 
and  lightning  arose.    All  the  frightened  robbers  quickly 
fled,  seeing  as  they  left  only  smoke  rising  like  fog  from 
the  opening.     Arising  from  this  smoke  was  a  yellow 
dragon  holding  in  its  mouth  a  string  of  fifteen  large 
pearl  cash.    On  each  cash  face  was  written,  "Thou  must 
obey  Heaven  and  leave  this  place.    Those  who  forcibly 
open  my  grave  will  be  visited  by  Heaven-sent  calamity." 
On  receiving  this  command  from  the  Yellow  Dragon, 
Lao  San  Shun  thought  that  this  language  applied  to 
himself,    and   became    presumptuous,    styling   himself 
Shuh  T'ien  Wang — the  King  who  obeys  Heaven,  and 
carved  in  the  faces  of  his  soldiers  the  three  characters, 
Shen  T'ien  Ping,  the  Soldiers  of  Heaven. 

There  was  a  palace  in  Chin's  grave,  and  behind  it  and 
under  the  mountain  a  quicksilver  river,  about  twelve 
feet  in  depth  and  a  half  a  mile  wide.  Floating  on  this 
river  was  Chin's  coffin  within  an  outer  case  varnished 
yellow  and  shaped  like  a  little  boat.  At  its  side  a  skilled 
artificer  had  made  a  powerful  bow,  and,  as  soon  as  any 


*S:8f#:a?»f*A±A        219 

Without    tasting  the  bitterest  we  never  reach   the 
highest. 

one  reached  the  spot  an  arrow  sprang  out,  thus  killing 
many  soldiers.  The  soldiers,  desiring  to  obtain  this 
coffin,  thought  of  the  device  of  putting  on  iron  clothes. 
But  as  soon  as  the  coffin  was  touched  it  floated  eastward 
and  on  iron  hooks  being  used  to  push  it  toward  the 
east,  it  suddenly  floated  toward  the  west.  As  the  sol- 
diers were  about  to  seize  it  there  was  a  mighty  noise  of 
thunder  and  they  were  frightened  away.  The  robber, 
Huang  Tsao,  being  unable  to  rifle  the  grave,  gave  the 
command  to  cover  it  up  again. 

It  is  handed  down  that  a  woman,  Yang  Hu-hsi  by 
name,  who  had  been  a  vegetarian  for  many  years, 
dreamed  that  the  Old  Mother  of  the  Black  Horse 
Mountain  said  to  her,  "Divest  yourself  quickly  of  your 
body  and  you  may  become  a  goddess."  Early,  there- 
fore, in  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  sixth  moon  she  dashed 
herself  down  from  the  Cliff  of  Self-devotion.  Falling 
in  a  great  stone  manger,  her  body  was  crushed  and  her 
blood  dyed  the  stone  crimson.  Whenever  rain  falls  in 
this  hollow  it  becomes  red  like  blood,  for  which  reason 
the  stone  is  called  Blood  Water  Basin. 

The  Basin  of  Valuables  is  on  the  Black  Horse  Moun- 
tain and  is  wonderful,  for  whatever  is  cast  into  the  basin 
becomes  multiplied  indefinitely.  The  Temple  of  Hu- 
man Origin  on  Black  Horse  Mountain,  some  distance 
west  of  Chin's  Mound,  is  interesting,  as  it  contains  a 
woman  supposed  to  be  the  common  world  ancestor. 

On  returning  from  Black  Horse  Mountain  and  go- 
ing toward  the  west  one  who  has  lived  on  the  plain  can- 
not but  be  at  once  struck  by  the  number  of  rocks  and 


220  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

stones  on  the  road  for  the  first  six  miles,  and  by  the  low 
stone  walls  around  the  fields.  On  the  plains  there  are 
few  stones  or  walls,  and  a  mere  boundary  stone  is  con- 
sidered enough  to  distinguish  one  piece  of  land  from 
another.  Two  and  a  half  miles  farther  on  the  traveler 
comes  to  Lint'ung,  so  named  from  the  two  streams  east 
and  west  of  the  city,  which  is  peculiar  in  that  it  has 
only  three  gates  instead  of  four  as  usual.  It  is  noted 
for  its  sulphur  springs,  although  these  springs  are 
not  uncommon  in  China.  There  is  one  piece  of  west- 
ernism  introduced  here — policemen,  having  as  resting 
places  little  boxes  painted  red  and  green  and  containing 
a  straw  seat.  At  the  top  of  the  box  is  the  name  of  the 
city,  characters  on  one  side  meaning  "patrol  and  in- 
spect" and  on  the  other  "take  your  turn  without  idle- 
ness." One  also  sees  an  apology  for  street  lamps  which 
serve  only  to  make  the  darkness  visible. 

Near  by  is  a  tree  worshiped  for  its  curative  proper- 
ties and  on  this  tree  is  written,  "The  efficacious  pill  re- 
lieves the  world."  On  the  lower  road  every  ten  H  is  a 
beacon.  About  775  B.C.  the  Emperor  Yu,  of  the  Chou 
dynasty,  lit  fires  on  these  beacons  along  the  road  be- 
cause his  beautiful  concubine,  Pao  Ssu,  would  not  smile, 
and  he  hoped  that  by  raising  an  alarm  so  many  persons 
would  gather  together,  as  if  in  defense  of  the  empire, 
that  his  favorite,  pleased  with  the  excitement  of  the  scene, 
would  smile,  as  was  indeed  the  case.  The  high  nobles, 
resenting  the  false  alarm,  afterwards  refused  to  answer 
to  the  beacon  when  it  was  lit  on  account  of  a  real  in- 
vasion. In  consequence  of  this  the  emperor,  being 
unaided,   was   slain,   and   the   selfish   Pao    Ssu,   being 


Photo    by    C.    J.    Anderson 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
The  Club  House  and  Stock   Exchange  in  Sianfu,  where  the  exchange  price 
of  Silver  is  fixed  every  day 


g  prW^*ffl^Pl-B*fi?      221 

Soldiers  may  not  be  needed  for  a  hundred  years,  but 
cannot  be  dispensed  with  a  single  day. 

taken  captive,  strangled  herself.  Of  this  story  there 
are  many  versions. 

A  few  miles  farther  on  is  a  prosperous  village  called 
Hokow,  north  of  which  was  a  palace  on  a  piece  of 
ground  about  two  acres  in  size  and  containing  an 
octagonal  well,  famous  for  its  curative  properties.  This 
palace  King  Yu  built  for  Pao  Ssii.  North  of  Hokow 
King  Yu  was  slain,  and  the  spot  is  called  Kill  His 
Excellency  Monastery.  The  common  saying  is  that 
Pao  Ssii's  one  smile  lost  the  empire. 

West  of  Hokow  is  the  Temple  of  the  Serpent's 
Egg.  Near  this  place  a  girl  picked  up  a  serpent's  egg 
on  an  old  grave.  She  took  it  home,  wrapped  it  in  a 
warm  cloth,  and  soon  two  serpents  were  hatched  out. 
These  she  fed  with  hen's  eggs  until  they  became  large 
serpents  which  devoured  the  village  people,  so  that  all 
complained  of  the  maiden.  Getting  angry,  she  tried  to 
cut  off  the  heads  of  the  serpents,  but  they  coiled  about 
her  sword  and  killed  her.  The  Pearl  Emperor  pitied 
her  and  deified  her  as  the  Lady  of  the  Serpent's  Egg. 

Farther  on  is  the  Pa  River,  over  which  is  a  bridge  of 
seventy-two  arches  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length. 
Passing  on  through  a  region  full  of  legends  we  find 
another  bridge  over  which  stands  a  stone  monument  set 
up  in  honor  of  the  devoted  widow,  the  Woman  of  Hsia, 
in  remembrance  of  her  determination  to  cast  herself 
into  her  husband's  tomb  to  be  buried  alive  with  him. 
E\ren  mandarins  worship  at  this  tomb ! 

Sian  is  now  entered.  The  name  signified  "Western 
Peace."    It  is  in  the  center  of  the  fertile  plain  of  Sian 


222  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

which  is  watered  by  the  rivers  Tsan,  Pan  Wei  and 
Ching,  all  easy  of  access.  South  of  Sian  is  the  noted 
great  pagoda  containing  two  Buddhist  monuments  of 
653-654  a.d.  which  relate  how  a  Buddhist  Hsiian 
Tsang  went  to  the  Ganges  in  India  in  quest  of  sacred 
books.  Northwest  of  Sian  are  two  mounds,  the  larger 
one  being  terraced,  and  said  to  be  the  resting  place  of 
the  general  Han  Hsin;  the  smaller  one,  with  its  sides 
embraced  by  nine  roots  of  a  tree  that  grows  out  of  its 
top,  containing  his  head.  Of  Han  Hsin,  who  helped 
to  secure  the  throne  for  Liu  Pang,  it  is  written  that  he 
went  out  to  fight  against  Ch'en  Yii  of  the  kingdom  of 
Chao.  Leading  ten  thousand  soldiers  across  the  river, 
he  destroyed  all  his  boats,  drew  up  his  soldiers  in  battle 
array  with  their  backs  to  the  river  and  gave  them  bread 
to  pass  from  hand  to  hand  to  eat  while  they  were  fight- 
ing, saying,  "When  you  have  destroyed  the  kingdom  of 
Chao  you  may  feast  to  your  heart's  content." 

In  Chingcheng  K'ow  he  routed  two  hundred  thou- 
sand of  Ch'en  Yii's  soldiers  and  the  same  day  destroyed 
Chao  Kwei  and  beheaded  Ch'en  Yii.  North  of  the  Wei 
River  and  near  Hsienyang,  Chin's  capital,  are  the  grave 
mounds  of  Wen  and  Wu,  two  of  China's  sages1  who 
lived  about  1200  B.C.  Somewhat  to  the  east  is  the  fine 
massive  mound  of  the  first  of  the  Hans,  Liu  Pang,  who 
put  the  finishing  touches  on  the  Great  Wall.  Just 
across  the  ferry  is  a  monument  so  valuable  that  rubbings 
of  it  sell  at  a  high  price  in  Peking,  as  the  writing  was 
done  by  a  Chinese  stylus,  Liu  or  Willow,  who  lived  one 

1  This  hardly  descrihes  them  sufficiently.  They  were  the  founders  of  the 
Chou  dynasty,  father  and  son:  "King  Literary"  and  "King  Martial." 


**&:*#»»«)**#  223 

A  single  strand  does  not  make  thread,  nor  one  tree 
a  forest. 

thousand  years  ago.  Thirty  miles  north  of  Sian  is  a 
plateau  containing  the  mounds  of  three  kings  of  the 
T'ang  dynasty  (618-907),  also  seventy  grave  mounds 
of  the  heroes  who  placed  the  T'angs  on  the  throne. 
East  of  this  place  is  the  mound  of  the  father  of  Liu 
Pang. 

Toward  the  northern  mountains  is  an  exceedingly 
large  natural  mound  used  as  the  grave  of  Chung 
Tsung,  a  T'ang  emperor,  who  was  imprisoned  by  the 
empress  dowager  of  that  day!  There  are  other  places 
of  note,  but  we  cannot  deal  with  this  region  fully.  Our 
design  is  to  show  the  environment  of  the  great  Chin's 
Mound  as  well  as  to  describe  it. 

As  to  the  villages  around  the  Mound  of  Chin,  in  the 
direction  of  the  mountains  there  are  two  of  the  Ch'en 
Clan,  Ling  Nan  Ch'en  Chia,  and  Chen  Chia  Yao.  East 
of  the  Mound  is  San  Lieh  Chiao  Chia.  From  this  place 
they  say  a  young  woman,  called  Chiao  Chin  Hua,  went 
out  and  built  a  thatched  house  in  front  of  the  village, 
and  sat  within  it  in  contemplation  for  ten  years,  then 
died!  She  was  immortalized  and  her  cottage  is  called 
Ts'ao  T'ang  Si,  or  Grass  Hall  Retreat.  Yet  another 
village  in  this  vicinity  is  Yang  Chia  Chwang. 

West  of  Yulin  Fu,  at  Wu  Chwang  Tsun,  there  was 
a  scholar,  Tu  Jang,  who  helped  Chin  to  build  the  Great 
Wall.  Chin,  seeing  that  he  had  but  little  strength, 
buried  him  in  the  earth.  His  wife,  Meng  Chiang,  see- 
ing her  husband's  pitiful  end,  wept  bitterly  until  her 
tears  became  blood.    As  she  reviled  Chin  Shih  Huang  for 


224  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

his  cruelty,  she  struck  her  head  on  a  stone  near  the  Wall, 
killing  herself. 

The  western  Han  emperor  in  whose  reign  Christ  was 
born,  had  a  statesman,  Wang  Mang,  who  poisoned  him 
and  became  emperor  in  his  stead,  under  the  name  of 
Hsin  Wang.  The  daughter  of  Wang  Mang  was  given 
to  Wu  Han,  a  great  general,  in  marriage.  Wu  Han 
led  twenty  thousand  soldiers  to  T'ungkuan  to  hold  it 
for  Wang  Mang.  At  this  time  Liu  Hsin,  emperor  of 
the  eastern  Hans,  wished  to  pass  from  Honan  to 
Ch'ang-An,  planning  to  slay  Wang  Mang.  When  Liu 
Hsin  reached  T'ungkuan  he  was  seen  by  Wu  Han, 
who  arrested  him,  intending  to  take  him  before  Wang 
Mang  to  show  his  own  prowess.  Wu  Han  was  a  dutiful 
son  and  took  leave  of  his  mother.  She  said  to  him, 
"Your  father's  name  was  Chao,  a  censor  of  P'eng  Ti, 
and  was  slain  by  Wang  Mang  twenty-three  years  ago. 
I  rescued  you  from  danger  and  changed  your  name  to 
Wu.  Wang  Mang  is  the  enemy  who  slew  your  father. 
You  now  capture  Liu  Hsin,  wishing  to  show  5^our  cour- 
age to  an  enemy.  Truly  you  are  not  the  equal  of  the 
birds  and  beasts."  So  saying,  she  grasped  a  sword  and 
killed  herself.  After  bewailing  his  mother  Wu  Han 
buried  her,  and  then  killed  his  wife,  the  king's  daughter. 
He  next  slew  Wang  Mang  and  became  a  general  in  the 
army  of  Liu  Hsin  in  Honan.  The  T'ang  Empress  Wu 
bore  a  son  with  the  head  of  an  ass  and  the  body  of  a 
man,  called  the  Ass-Headed  Heir  Apparent,  who  was 
very  courageous  and  could  overcome  ten  thousand  men. 

Our  resolution  to  interview  at  least  one  thousand  dif- 
ferent persons  during  the  study  of  the  Great  Wall  has 


$L  *  %  M  ¥  225 

The  fiercest  tiger  does  not  eat  its  own  young. 

never  been  suffered  to  fall  into  abeyance.  As  this  is 
one  of  a  half  dozen  most  important  burial  mounds  on 
earth  we  held  it  worth  the  time  and  effort  to  discuss  the 
Mound  of  Chin  with  some  fifteen  or  twenty  natives  liv- 
ing near  the  famous  tomb.  The  original  chronology 
of  the  conversations  is  preserved,  as  well  as  the  abrupt- 
ness. The  fact  that  for  the  most  part  the  natives  are 
superstitious  when  many  questions  are  asked  concern- 
ing graves  and  precious  things  accounts  for  the  appar- 
ent failure  of  the  interviews  to  reach  a  natural  climax. 
For  the  following  interesting  items,  as  well  as  for  the 
measurements  of  the  Mound,  we  are  under  great  obliga- 
tion to  that  brilliant  scholar  and  successful  educator, 
Frank  Madeley,  Esquire,  M.A.,  of  Birmingham,  Eng- 
land, who,  when  the  author  was  taken  ill  of  fever,  con- 
sented to  continue  the  investigations. 

The  interviewer  spent  two  nights  with  the  farmer 
who  owns  the  farm  lying  between  the  Mound  of  Chin 
and  the  Black  Horse  Mountain.  What  all  sorts  of  peo- 
ple said  when  asked  about  the  Chin  Shih  Huang  Ti  (the 
Great  Chin)  and  his  grave,  will  now  find  record  here. 

The  landowner,  Ch'en  Ming,  who  has  his  hundred 
acres  of  land,  when  asked  about  the  mound  said,  "It 
is  Shih  Huang  Ti's  (the  First  Emperor's).  "Is  his 
reputation  great?"  "Yes.  Who  doesn't  know  the 
Mound  of  Chin  Shih  Huang?  He  has  a  bad  reputation. 
There  is  no  monument."  Mr.  Ch'en  said  the  outer  en- 
compassing wall  of  the  Mound  passed  just  below  his 
place,  and  the  cave  thence  into  the  mountains  runs 
under  his  farm,  and  according  to  the  vulgar  saying, 


226  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

valuables  are  beneath  the  house.  When  Mr.  Ch'en 
was  further  inquired  of  valuables  under  his  house  he 
skilfully  evaded  the  question,  saying,  "I  can't  see." 
Mr.  Ch'en  continued,  "The  Mound  is  only  the  mouth 
of  the  grave.  Chin  is  buried  in  the  mountain  earth." 
Another  Mr.  Ch'en,  a  scholar,  interposed,  "He  was 
buried  beneath  the  Mound.  How  could  he  be  buried 
in  the  Black  Horse  Mountain?" 

A  sweet  seller  of  "horse  candy,"  a  kind  of  spiral 
bread  fried  in  oil  and  made  brittle,  said  that  the  Ch'ens 
of  the  Mound  South  Ch'en  family  are  descendants  of 
Emperor  Chin.  Their  family  name  was  like  his,  Ying, 
but  it  was  altered  to  Ch'en  because  his  reputation  was 
bad.  Several  persons  in  the  district,  when  asked  their 
name,  replied  "Ch'en." 

Women  were  surprised  and  highly  complimented  by 
being  inquired  of  by  the  foreigner.  One  woman  when 
asked  about  the  Mound  said,  "I  don't  know";  another, 
80  years  of  age,  which  fact  points  out  that  the  bad 
reputation  of  the  Mound  owner  has  not  interfered  with 
folks'  longevity,  said,  "It's  Chin  Shih  Huang's  Mound." 
Still  another,  "It  is  King  Ch'en's  Mound."  A  man 
standing  by  corrected  her,  saying,  "It  is  not  King 
Ch'en's  but  King  Chin's  Mound."  And  he  added, 
"Women  don't  read."  The  old  woman  went  off, 
chuckling.  Why?  At  the  very  idea  of  expecting  a 
woman  to  know  anything.  Women's  life  in  China 
reminds  the  Bible  student  of  John  4:27 — "His  disci- 
ples marveled  that  He  talked  with  a  (not  the)  woman." 
But  the  significant  fact  about  the  old  lady's  reply  is 
that  it  confirms  the  saying  that  the  village  ancestors 


trME7>ff#  227 

An  image  maker  never  worships  idols. 

changed  the  family  name  to  Ch'en,  for  if  the  old  woman 
understood  herself  to  be  a  descendant  of  the  great  king, 
while  remaining  in  ignorance  of  the  change  of  name, 
she  would  naturally  suppose  the  king's  name  was 
Ch'en. 

Farmers  almost  to  a  man  could  not  imagine  it  possi- 
ble for  a  man  to  know  anything  outside  of  their  usual 
lives.  One,  a  youth,  when  questioned,  said,  "I  have  not 
seen  him — years  many"  (i.e.,  since  Chin's  time).  An- 
other youth,  "Can't  remember,  years  many."  A  man 
said,  "It's  Chin  Shih  Huang's  Mound.  It's  a  good 
many  thousands  of  years,  I  can't  guess  it."  Another, 
when  asked  how  it  was  possible  for  soldiers  to  fetch 
enough  sand  from  many  miles  away  to  build  the  huge 
Mound,  replied,  "If  Chin  could  get  the  Myriad  Mile 
Wall  built,  then  to  bring  sand  from  the  Wei  River  was 
easy." 

A  furrier  with  ear  caps  on,  showing  he  knew  how  to 
take  advantage  of  his  own  trade  to  keep  himself  warm 
in  winter,  said,  "I  don't  know  him  (Chin).  It  is  the 
First  King's  Mound;  he  built  the  Boundary  Wall,  ten 
thousand  li  long,  running  outside  the  mouth."  The  peo- 
ple who  live  adjoining  the  Wall  at  certain  points  call  it 
the  Great  Boundary  Wall).  When  asked,  "Was  Chin 
bad  or  good?"  he  replied,  "How  can  I  know?  You  read 
the  books  and  know  about  the  sacred  worthies."  When 
asked  how  old  the  Mound  is,  "It's  a  thousand  years 
up.  Chin  was  king  of  man  and  lord  of  land."  He  com- 
pared him  unfavorably  with  the  first  king  of  the 
T'angs. 


228 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


A  carter  said,  "It  is  the  First  Emperor's  Mound." 
But  the  marks  of  opium  on  his  face  furnished  the 
reason  why  he  knew  little  about  the  dead  or  the  living, 
except  so  far  as  nature  compelled  him  to  work  to  live. 

A  general  dealer  who  is  a   Christian  was  well  in- 

« 'SUffc. 


±\ 


<Vl£ 


® 


JCgvr. 


Flan  of  the  Mound  of  Chin.     Drawn  by  a  local  Chinese  for  Dr.  Ceil.    It  adjoins 
the  Mount  Li. 

formed.  Chin  lived  when  the  country  was  divided  into 
thirty-six  provinces,  at  the  time  he  destroyed  K'ung 
the  holy  man  (a  common  designation  of  Confucius). 
He  burned  all  his  books,  the  Four  Books  and  the  Five 
Classics.    The  place  where  he  burned  the  books  is  near 


b  a  e  m  &  a  m  229 

There  is  always  a  rogue  to  rub  a  rogue 

the  Wooden  Pagoda  (a  well-known  spot  twenty-five 
miles  from  Sian).  The  earth  there  is  black  because  he 
burned  the  books.  Asked  if  the  soil  is  now  black,  he 
replied  that  it  is.  The  reputation  of  Chin  is  that  of  one 
of  the  very  bad  men  of  the  Central  Kingdom.  He 
burned  the  books  and  buried  the  scholars,  leaving  their 
heads  projecting,  and  then  yoked  animals  to  a  harrow, 
pointing  to  a  farmer's  iron-toothed  harrow,  and  ran  it 
back  and  forth  over  them.  He  also  said  that  the  great 
Mound  is  only  the  great  gate  of  the  grave;  that  the 
grave  is  in  the  mountains,  that  it  is  a  quicksilver  sea,  on 
which  the  body  moves,  so  that  if  you  want  to  grasp  it 
you  can't.  Those  who  made  the  Mound  were  buried 
alive  in  it,  as  were  also  Chin's  wives  and  concubines. 
A  coolie  said,  "I  don't  know  anything." 
A  bread  seller:  "It  is  the  true  Mound,  but  what  can 
you  know  about  him?  He  is  in  the  ground  and  the 
Mound  is  on  top  of  him.  What  can  you  know  about 
him!"  Another  coolie,  carrying  a  load,  let  pathos  into 
the  conversation.  He  said  the  load  weighed  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  pounds  of  cotton.  When  asked  if  he'd 
seen  Chin's  Mound  he  replied,  "I  don't  lift  my  head;  I 
don't  see."  And  no  wonder,  poor  fellow;  his  burden 
was  great. 

A  cake-shop  man  submitted  to  being  interviewed 
with  good  grace.  He  had  read  in  a  book  that  inside  the 
Mound  were  great  iron  gates,  a  north  gate  and  a  south 
gate;  the  locks  are  dragons'  tongues.  Inside  the  gate 
you  tread  on  a  machine,  and  a  knife  comes  forth  and 
pierces  you  to  death. 


230  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

A  pawnbroker  when  asked  about  Chin  said,  "I  can't 
go;  I  keep  the  gate."  That  is  an  expression  often 
heard  in  China.  "I  keep  the  gate" — it  is  important. 
"I  eat  other's  bread;  I  keep  the  gate;  I  cannot  go." 

A  barber  replied  only  by  saying,  "I  am  a  Wa  Wa," — 
a  child ! 

A  banker  declared,  "It  is  only  an  earth  pile  and  some 
grass.  I've  passed  it  by  many  times,  but  never  gave  it 
a  thought.  The  actors,"  continued  the  banker,  "say 
Chin's  reputation  was  bad.    He  burned  books!" 

An  old  scholar:  "Burn  book  bury  scholar" — a  four- 
character  phrase  with  much  meaning.  He  further 
made  reference  to  the  Wo  Fang  palace,  which  was  some 
thirty  miles  long,  that  is  the  various  buildings  and 
yards  spread  along  that  distance  to  enable  Chin  to  sleep 
in  a  different  room  each  night  and  thereby  avoid  evil 
spirits  finding  him.  The  old  scholar  said  the  palace 
stretched  from  Hsienyang,  Chin's  capital,  to  Lint'ung, 
and  from  Lint'ung  to  Chung  Nan  San,  forming  a 
triangle.  He  also  called  attention  to  the  hole  on  top 
of  Chin's  Mound  where  one  can  drop  in  a  small  stone 
and  in  a  few  moments  hear  it  strike  the  bottom.  The 
position  of  the  Mound,  the  old  scholar  says,  was  fixed 
by  the  professors  of  Tung  Shui  as  being  auspicious. 
The  dragon  pulse,  meaning  that  the  magnetic  currents 
with  which  the  dragon  is  supposed  to  be  connected,  is 
good.  The  mountain  south  is  a  dragon  at  rest!  The 
river  north  is  a  dragon  in  motion!  Then  west  is  Lin- 
t'ung, called  the  Golden  Granary,  and  east  is  Hsinfeng, 
the  Silver  Treasury.    In  all  four  directions  the  emperor 


a      O 


_       3 
■3      O 


5     J 


m  ®  &  m  231 

Destroying  the  bridge  that  carried  us  over. 

had  something  to  rest  on  and  so  might  hope  to  go  on 
reigning  thousands  of  years ! 

"The  farmers  say,"  says  the  old  scholar,  "that  inside 
the  Mound  are  buried  Chin's  'Ascend  the  Clouds  Boots,' 
which  enabled  him  to  go  up  to  heaven;  his  'Move  the 
Mountains  Whip,'  with  which  he  could  exchange  moun- 
tains; also  'Measure  the  Fields  Rod,'  which  when  he 
waved  it  in  the  air  caused  his  enemies  to  suffer  defeat. 
It  is  said  that  the  soil  or  sand  which  composes  the  Mound 
was  all  burned  before  being  placed  in  permanent  posi- 
tion." This  sets  one  wondering  where  caldrons  of  suffi- 
cient size  were  obtained,  else  the  work  required  many 
years  of  time. 

And  so  the  common  people,  the  business  men,  and  the 
scholars  have  their  folk-lore  about  the  man  and  the 
Mound,  Chin.  A  spot  well  worth  the  visiting.  What 
other  mound  marks  the  resting-place  of  a  more  remark- 
able character?  This  then  is  the  Mound  of  Chin,  the 
builder  of  the  Great  Wall,  and  the  maker  of  the  vastest 
empire  of  mortals! 

Before  we  quit  the  Mound  of  Chin  we  think  of  the 
splendid  tombs  we  have  seen  in  honor  of  the  Mings,  the 
other  builders  of  the  Wall,  and  in  honor  of  the  present 
Ch'ings.  They  incorporate  mounds,  but  the  mounds 
are  girt  about  with  walls  within  which  are  temples. 
Was  it  so  with  Chin?  Here  are  traces  of  walls  encom- 
passing his  Mound.  Did  they  once  inclose  gates  and 
furnaces  and  temples,  prototypes  of  those  which  the 
tourist  from  Peking  regularly  visits? 

Chin  was  The  Only  First  in  death  as  in  life.    Before, 


232  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

other  kings  had  died,  and  had  been  laid  to  rest  under 
mere  mounds ;  but  he  was  the  first  to  prescribe  a  custom 
of  sacrificing  at  his  tomb ;  and  this  fell  in  so  easily  with 
the  feeling  of  reverence  for  ancestors  that  it  was  taken 
up  by  the  next  dynasty  and  rooted  itself  permanently. 
The  importance  of  this  new  departure  has  not  been 
generally  recognized,  but  when  we  look  for  earlier  royal 
tombs  we  find  none;  when  we  search  the  classics  for 
records  of  temples  to  preceding  kings,  there  are  none. 
What  we  do  find  in  the  records  of  the  Han  dynasty  are 
these  two  sentences,  which  pay  unwilling  tribute  to 
Chin:  "Anciently  there  was  no  sacrificing  on  the  tombs, 
but  during  the  dynasty  of  Han1  a  park  with  a  temple 
was  added  as  an  appendage  to  each  of  the  imperial 
mausolea  in  imitation  of  the  house  of  Chin."  Or  in  the 
Rules  for  Official  Dignitaries:  "In  ancient  times  there 
was  no  sacrificing  on  the  tombs,  but  Shih  Huang  Ti  of 
the  house  of  Chin  erected  a  temple  at  the  side  of  his 
tomb,  and  this  was  imitated  by  the  Han  dynasty,  and 
has  not  since  been  abolished." 

Thus  Chin  inaugurated  imperial  tombs  with  temples 
annexed.  Chin  the  innovator  may  not  be  worshiped 
to-day,  but  every  succeeding  emperor  pays  tribute  to 
him  in  adopting  his  pattern. 

1  On  the  Hsienyang  plateau,  where  are  visible  at  least  seven  royal  mounds 
and  among  them  an  enormous  one  to  a  IJan,  a  portion  of  the  grave  area  is 
being  cultivated,  whereas  none  of  Chin's  Mound  has  been  wrested  away  to  be 
cultivated,  as  if  to  say  "such  ground  is  accursed,  we  will  not  take  any  of 
the  unlucky,  ill-omened  soil  of  the  Mound  of  him  who  burned  the  books  and 
buried  the  scholars." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

The  Why  of  the  Wall 

To  comprehend  the  scheme  and  extent  of  the  Great 
Wall  requires  no  light  effort.  To  realize  the  lives  that 
were  jeopardized,  the  severity  exercised,  the  demons 
exorcised,  the  sorcerers  subsidized,  in  planning  and 
promoting  this  stupendous  enterprise,  baffles  the  imagi- 
nation; the  mysterious  mounting  of  the  mountains,  the 
dangerous  dives  into  deep  ravines,  the  twining  and 
winding  of  the  endless  edifice,  raise  unsolvable  questions 
as  to  the  why  of  the  Great  Wall. 

Consider  the  sheer  mass  of  the  vast  construction. 
Here  are  cubic  miles  of  material.  The  weight  of  this 
enormous  bulk  far  surpasses  any  other  human  construc- 
tion. Monster  battleships  are  planned  to  displace 
twenty  thousand  tons  of  water;  but  what  are  they  be- 
side the  uncounted  myriads  of  tons  that  oppress  the 
earth  here?  Just  to  move  the  stones  and  bricks  into 
position  is  a  task  that  appalls  the  imagination — unless 
indeed  there  were  some  Chinese  Amphion  to  charm  the 
very  rocks  by  his  lyre,  and  make  them  dance  into  posi- 
tion. But  if  so,  it  exhausted  the  national  music,  for 
the  ordinary  Chinaman  has  not  even  a  whistle  left  in 
him.1  No,  the  size  of  this  Great  Wall  raises  a  grave 
problem.     Then  too,   its  marvelous   contortions,   as  it 

1  One  of  the  signs  of  the  times  is  that  Chinese  young  men  are  beginning 
to  whistle, — something  unheard-of  in  China. 

233 


234 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


sweeps  in  daring  curves,  drops  into  yawning  abysses, 
leaps  across  streams,  as  though  the  gray  masonry  were 
not  the  work  of  human  hands  but  the  idle  fancy  of  wil- 
ful nature;  these  things  compel  us  to  ask  whether  this 
is  fantastic  art,  or  equally  fantastic  science. 


Man-eating  Monster.    Man's  face  and  dragon's  body.    Lives  in  the  north. 

Was  the  Wall  undertaken  simpfy  to  employ  men  who 
might  otherwise  be  dangerous?  Such  a  simple,  pur- 
poseless purpose  has  often  operated.  Pharaoh  was 
dangerously  near  this  when  he  put  the  Children  of 
Israel  to  forced  labor ;  plenty  of  prisons  in  America  and 
in  England  have  seen  men  treading  a  mill  or  grinding 
at  cranks  or  breaking  stones  or  teasing  oakum,  just  to 
keep  them  busy,  without  any  special  object  being  aimed 
at  as  a  result  of  their  business.  Every  now  and  again 
when  there  is  some  spasmodic  cry  about  the  unemployed, 
some  stupid  piece  of  work  is  hastily  improvised  to  serve 


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mmmm 


235 


Diligence  can  make  up  for  doltishness. 


as  an  excuse  for  paying  men  who  are  set  to  do  it.  It 
is  but  lately  that  Indian  engineer  officers  have  planned 
out  great  relief  works  such  as  canals  and  tanks,  so  that 
men  who  are  put  to  excavate  these  in  famine  times,  are 
thereby  doing  something  to  prevent  famines  in  future. 


£/* 


The  Laughing  Lower  Lipper.     When  he  sees  a  man  he  laughs  until  his  lower 
lip  covers  his  eyes,  else  he'd  laugh  himself  to  death. 

The  usual  relief  work  too  often  testifies  to  the  unpre- 
paredness  of  the  authorities,  who  waste  good  labor  and 
produce  something  barely  ornamental  and  barely  use- 
ful. If  the  Great  Wall  were  simply  a  relief  work,  it 
would  be  a  colossal  blunder,  but  one  of  a  common  type. 
Was  it  more  than  this, — a  boundary?     From  early 


236  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

ages  we  have  heard  of  landmarks,  and  know  what  im- 
portance was  attached  to  these,  so  that  the  Hebrews 
imprecated  curses  on  any  one  who  moved  them,  and  the 
Romans  put  them  under  the  protection  of  a  special  god 
Terminus.  Was  the  Wall,  then,  simply  erected  to  define 
the  Chinese  Holy  Land,  so  that  all  within  it  should  be 
blossoms  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom,  while  beyond  were 
mere  weeds  and  thistles  of  the  wilderness?  It  is  awk- 
ward to  have  no  limits,  to  see  a  gradual  shading  off  of 
town  into  country,  of  useful  land  into  desert,  of  king- 
dom into  kingdom.  Perhaps  this  Wall  was  just  put  up 
as  a  clear  definition  where  China  ended,  as  nature  gave 
no  hint  in  this  direction.  All  sorts  of  curious  artificial 
boundaries  have  been  known  for  this  purpose.  Hedges, 
stone  walls,  piles  of  logs, — all  mark  the  limits  of  farms 
or  fields.  Children  at  play  will  scratch  a  line  on  the 
ground  to  mark  the  base;  footballers  put  up  lines  of 
flags,  baseball  teams  throw  down  bags  to  mark  off  their 
diamond.  Prisoners  of  war  have  seen  a  boundary  of 
mere  wires  to  show  the  line  beyond  which  they  may  not 
pass,  unless  they  are  prepared  to  risk  being  shot  with- 
out further  notice.  There  some  moral  force  came  to 
restrain;  the  boundary  itself  was  but  a  slight  thing. 
Was  the  Wall  just  to  show  where  the  desert  was  to  be 
left  behind,  with  desert  manners,  while  civilization  was 
to  begin? 

That  is  viewing  it  from  the  north,  looking  at  the  hint 
it  gave  to  the  barbarians  outside.  But  walls  have  two 
sides  and  this  Wall  may  be  a  boundary  to  remind  the 
Chinaman  of  his  privileges  and  to  promote  his  patriot- 
ism.   "Within  this  ring  is  your  home,  the  abode  of  art 


When  times  are  easy  we  don't  burn  incense  ;    but 
when  stress  comes  we  embrace  the  feet  of  Buddha. 

and  learning:  beyond  is  the  outer  darkness  with  which 
no  son  of  the  Flowery  Kingdom  has  aught  to  do!" 
Was  that  the  suggestion  of  the  Wall ?  Japan  would  not 
suffer  her  sons  to  wander  over  seas  till  of  late.  Britain 
would  not  let  her  scanty  population  trickle  away  in  the 
Stuart  times ;  licenses  were  needed  before  any  one  might 
take  ship.  Possibly,  then,  the  Wall  had  the  message  to 
those  beyond  the  boundary,  "Keep  out!"  and  to  those 
within,  "Stay  here!" 

At  least  we  can  see  that  within  this  line  there  has  been 
a  growth  of  character  that  is  unique;  southward  of  the 
Wall  we  find  one  type  of  civilization ;  northward  is  little 
but  barbarism,  till  of  late  other  waves  have  flowed  in 
from  west  to  east.  The  Wall  has  served  as  a  clear  line 
of  demarcation  that  all  could  understand.  For  the 
United  States,  the  Atlantic  was  such  an  obvious  boun- 
dary, while  westward  the  settled  land  shaded  off  into 
the  wilds  of  nature.  Beyond  the  Alleghanies  lay  other 
settlements;  beyond  the  western  desert  lay  yet  others; 
France  and  Spain  had  sent  in  their  driblets  of  colonists ; 
but  from  the  firm  base  of  the  Atlantic,  the  wave  of 
Anglo-Saxons  swelled  and  surged  across,  submerging 
all  others  as  it  came.  So  from  the  solid  background  of 
the  Wall,  the  wave  of  true  Chinese  rolled  southward, 
engulfing  others  met  by  the  way,  till  another  boundary 
was  found  at  the  ocean,  and  all  from  Wall  to  water 
owned  the  sway  of  the  sons  of  Ch'in. 

Perhaps  from  the  first  the  Wall  was  meant  as  more 
than  boundary, — was  meant  as  rampart.  "Have  no  fear 
of  the  tiger  from  the  south;  beware  the  rooster  from 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


the  north."  How  old  is  that  proverb  we  cannot  say,  but 
older  than  the  Mings.  The  feeble  folk  on  the  Yangtze 
were  no  danger  to  the  dwellers  by  the  Hwang  ho,  but 
the  wild  riders  of  the  northern  steppes  were  not  mere 


Man's  body,  dragon's  head— goes  round  the  abyss.    When  he  goes  out  or  in 
there  is  a  hurricane  or  worse.    Lives  north  of  the  Great  Wall. 

crowing  cocks,  they  were  fighting  cocks  too.  Ramparts 
of  this  description  have  often  been  erected.  If  a 
Roman  legion  halted  for  the  night,  it  cast  up  some  kind 
of  an  earthen  bank  with  a  ditch,  which  may  remain 
after  centuries  to  show  what  mighty  builders  were  these 
people.     When  the  limits  of  the  empire  seemed  toler- 


3cTfl**-»JSS  239 

A  crow  is  black  the  world  over. 

ably  fixed,  permanent  traces  were  made,  and  along 
them  arose  in  a  few  cases  defensive  works.  Thus  in 
Germany  the  emperors  of  the  second  century  dug  a 
slight  ditch  and  drew  a  low  wall  along  to  indicate  the 
mere  boundary  of  the  territory  where  Roman  law  held. 
And  the  same  device  was  adopted  in  Britain;  where 


Three-faced  nation — man's  head,  three  faces,  one  shoulder — dangerous-    Lives 
in  the  Great  Wilderness.    Enemy  of  men. 

the  Solway  suggests  a  boundary,  a  ditch  was  hollowed 
out,  and  the  clods  of  earth  were  piled  neatly  into  a  turf 
wall.  But  the  barbarians  of  the  north  did  not  respect 
this,  and  it  became  necessary  to  erect  a  real  fortification 
which  should  actually  bar  the  passage.     The  same  dis- 


240  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

tinction  may  be  recognized  at  Gibraltar,  where  the  civil 
boundary  is  marked  only  by  a  row  of  sentry  boxes,  but 
behind  them  is  a  real  defensive  wall.  And  so  from 
Wall's  End  on  the  Tyne,  along  the  moors  to  the  north, 
along  the  edge  of  the  steep  cliffs  of  basalt,  not  always 
following  the  line  of  the  earlier  boundary,  arose  a  sub- 
stantial stone  wall  protected  by  a  dry  ditch  in  front; 

v  i^7 


Ox  tail— rabbit  face— barks  like  a  dog,  eats  men.     Lives  in  the  northern 
mountains. 

behind  it  ran  a  good  road  for  the  movement  of  troops, 
fenced  by  the  earthen  mounds  on  either  side.  About 
every  five  miles  there  was  a  stone  walled  fort  covering  a 
few  acres.  From  several  of  these,  southern  roads  con- 
centrated at  three  or  four  garrison  towns  whence  rein- 
forcements could  be  poured  to  any  threatened  point. 

Now  these  arrangements  are  strikingly  parallel  to 
those  along  the  Chinese  Wall.    This  also  does  not  follow 


^PTtlffif  241 

Don't  ask  your  guest  if  you  may  kill  a  fowl  for  him. 

any  line  obvious  as  a  mere  boundary,  nor  as  a  probable 
route  for  traders.  It  has  towers  along  it  at  frequent 
intervals,  while  in  the  rear  are  larger  camps.  The  con- 
clusion is  obvious,  that  this  present  Chinese  Wall,  like 
the  wall  of  Severus  in  Britain,  was  intended  for  actual 
defense  by  real  soldiers  against  very  genuine  invaders  or 
border  raiders. 

But  this  is  only  one  point  gained:  we  are  sure  now 
that  the  British  stone  wall  of  Severus  came  only  after 
a  turf  boundary  wall.  The  Chinese  Wall  during  the 
time  of  the  Mings  was  undoubtedly  a  barrier,  but  does 
that  settle  what  it  was  used  for  at  a  previous  stage? 
There  is  to-day  in  Peru  a  splendid  monastery  of  mas- 
sive stone,  where  for  centuries  the  Dominicans  have 
dwelt  and  worshiped ;  but  for  centuries  before  they  went 
there  the  Inca  priests  ministered  there  in  what  was  then 
the  Temple  of  the  Sun.  There  is  to-day  in  Paris  a  fine 
block  of  government  offices  where  ministers  of  state 
and  their  clerks  manage  the  business  of  a  department; 
but  till  a  few  months  ago  it  was  the  official  residence  of 
an  archbishop.  On  a  Devon  moor  is  a  forbidding  ring 
of  granite  walls,  behind  which  dwell  for  definite  periods 
the  worst  of  English  criminals;  but  the  walls  were 
erected  to  guard  safely  the  prisoners  taken  in  the  wars 
of  Napoleon.  So  when  we  are  certain  that  the  last  use 
of  the  Great  Wall  was  as  a  frontier  fortification,  it  still 
invites  inquiry  whether  we  have  probed  the  purpose  of 
its  builders.  Were  they  guarding  against  two-legged 
invaders  or  four-legged?  Was  this,  at  first,  simply  a 
glorified  sheepfold,  to  keep  out  bears  and  wolves  that 

16 


242  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

behind  its  shelter  the  domestic  cattle  might  browse  in 
peace,  and  the  crops  might  be  safe  from  the  wild  cattle 
in  search  of  succulent  pasture? 

Or  was  the  original  purpose  still  less  material?  Was 
it  to  guard  not  against  seen  foes,  but  against  unseen? 
not  against  the  creatures  of  this  world,  but  against  the 
powers  of  the  air?  Was  the  Wall  originally  a  spiritual 
defense,  a  religious  monument,  a  landmark  of  super- 
stition ? 

Such  a  thought  may  seem  amazing  till  we  reflect  a 
little  on  the  great  buildings  that  rise  in  other  lands  in 
the  name  of  religion,  till  we  recollect  that  the  Chinese 
had  practically  no  temples  till  Buddhism  made  its  foot- 
ing good,  till  we  see  how  superstition  dictates  even  at 
the  present  day  many  of  the  Chinese  buildings. 

In  any  city  to-day  are  not  some  of  the  most  conspicu- 
ous buildings  consecrated  to  religion?  Westminster 
Abbey,  Westminster  Cathedral,  and  St.  Paul's  are 
among  the  most  obvious  features  of  London.  The 
glory  of  Cologne  is  the  "Dom"  and  in  Strasburg  also 
it  is  the  minster  which  dominates  the  city.  Far  more 
was  this  the  case  in  antiquity,  when  Karnak  and  Mem- 
non  and  the  obelisks  were  all  dedicated  to  religion  in 
Egypt;  when  the  tower  of  Babel  was  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  Seven  Gods  of  Babylonia.  In  the  plains 
of  the  Ganges  are  such  modern  structures  as  the  Jumna 
Musjid  at  Delhi  or  the  Pearl  Mosque  at  Agra,  or  the 
countless  temples  of  Benares.  In  the  south  of  the 
Deccan  are  miles  of  colonnades  and  halls  given  over  to 
worship,  in  some  cases  with  covered  ways  mounting  the 
hillsides  up  to  some  high  place  on  the  peak.     In  the 


243 


In  prosperity   strangers  claim    kin  ;    in    adversity 
kindred  become  strangers. 

islands  of  the  sea,  Ceylon  and  Java,  are  rambling  piles 
of  stone  carved  into  myriads  of  statues,  all  for  assisting 
the  devotions  of  the  Buddhists.  In  the  ancient  worl^l 
we  have  abundant  tokens  that  religion  was  a  potent 
factor  in  creating  vast  buildings. 


i(lLdJ± 


Nine-headed  snake— possesses  tremendous  strength. 

When  we  turn  to  China  and  seek  for  the  correspond- 
ing buildings,  we  put  aside  the  late  edifices  due  to  Islam, 
to  Taoism,  to  the  Indian  art  of  Buddhism,  and  we  find 
simply  the  Confucian  halls  and  the  antique  Temple  of 


244  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Heaven.  This  last  is  indeed  a  splendid  testimony  to  the 
inspiration  of  religion,  but  the  halls  due  to  the  teachings 
of  the  Chinese  sage  are  mere  plain  empty  buildings, 
with  tablets  in  memory  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  illus- 
trious men.  It  is  difficult  to  think  that  these  simple 
edifices  are  all  that  the  ancient  religion  of  China  ever 
erected. 

Once  we  think  of  this,  and  remember  how  fine  is  the 
line  between  religion  and  superstition  in  early  days,  we 
have  abundant  evidence  of  the  power  of  superstition. 
Louis  XI  of  France  has  been  immortalized  by  Walter 
Scott  with  a  row  of  leaden  images  in  his  hatband,  and 
an  astrologer  in  his  train.  Now  the  Chinese,  even  to 
the  present  day,  are  steeped  in  all  manner  of  belief  in 
charms  and  good  luck,  which  have  been  interwoven  into 
Taoism,  but  have  also  a  hold  on  many  who  disclaim  that 
form  of  religion.  Whoever  has  watched  a  Chinese  pro- 
cession, knows  the  fine  figure  cut  by  the  dragon,  which 
may  wind  its  lengthy  way  through  one  or  two  streets 
at  once;  yet  this  is  but  one  specimen  of  their  mytho- 
logical menagerie.  Scaly  creatures,  uncanny  beasts, 
magic  mammals,  flying  fiends — such  is  an  unscientific 
catalogue  of  the  fauna  familiar  to  the  imagination.  It 
is  too  evident  that  these  are  not  seen  every  day  nor  in 
ordinary  places,  and  as  to  the  Chinese  mind  it  is  axio- 
matic that  they  exist,  their  habitat  must  be  away  in  the 
desert.  What  then  more  obvious  than  to  erect  a  magic 
boundary  against  them,  and  to  endow  it  with  spells 
which  would  arrest  their  progress? 

Let  us  make  sure  how  deeply  these  notions  possess 
the  average  Chinaman.    A  visitor  at  Kiating  was  awak- 


Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
A  binary  granite  base  resting  on   igneous   rocks  partially  supports   a  Wall 
making  an  almost  perpendicular   ascent 


You  can't  get  ivory  out  of  a  dog's  mouth. 


245 


ened  one  night  by  a  banging  of  doors  and  windows; 
it  turned  out  that  this  was  to  frighten  away  a  nine- 
headed  monster  flying  overhead,  which  dropped  blood 
as  it  passed,  the  blood  causing  the  death  of  any  one  on 
whose  house  it  fell.  The  western  visitor  quite  failed  to 
convince  the  people  that  what  they  saw  was  but  a  flock 
of  wild  geese  at  some  height:    the  legend  was  well- 


<&> 


"Double-Double"— The  monster  has  three  heads,  green  or  black  color,  body 
red.    Lives  on  the  edge  of  the  desert. 

known  and  a  nine-headed  monster  there  must  be!  De- 
mons pervade  the  air,  and  have  to  be  guarded  against 
at  all  turns;  as  the  western  horseshoe  is  unknown,  a 
roaring  trade  is  driven  in  a  picture  of  the  Taoist  chief- 
priest  framed  in  vignettes  of  caterpillars,  snakes,  in- 
sects, flies,  with  a  verse  describing  the  center  figure : 


246  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

At  noon  on  the  fifth  of  the  fifth, 

The  Pope  astride  of  his  Tiger ; 

His  mouth  all  red, 

Clear  sky  overhead, 

To  the  land  of  the  shades  all  the  demons  have  fled. 

Then  certain  localities  are  labeled  by  the  demon- 
managers  as  malignant.  If  a  house  must  face  one  of 
these,  special  precautions  must  be  taken,  and  a  design 
of  a  sunrise  must  be  painted  on  a  large  board  over  the 
door.  Many  houses  hang  a  mirror  above  in  hopes  that 
the  ugly  demons  will  see  themselves  as  others  see  them, 
and  turn  away  in  disgust.  If  a  house  acquires  the 
reputation  of  being  demon-haunted,  a  demon-trap 
of  plaited  bamboo  will  be  hung  up  to  intercept  the 
visitants. 

Now  modern  instances  of  this  abound;  but  it  is  very 
important  to  know  that  Chin  was  deeply  permeated 
with  these  beliefs.  He  heard  of  a  man  who  could  make 
himself  invisible,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  get  hold  of 
him.1  He  heard  of  a  fountain  of  youth  and  sent  an 
expedition  to  discover  it.  He  desired  his  physicians  to 
compound  a  pill  of  life,  and  was  so  much  in  earnest 
about  it  that  he  was  ready  to  slay  a  thousand  boys  and 
a  thousand  girls  that  their  blood  might  concentrate  all 
its  essence  of  vitality  for  his  benefit.  Was  not  this 
the  sort  of  man  to  conceive  the  idea  of  a  gigantic 
demon-barrier?  He  destroyed  much  literature  that 
had  come   down  to  his   age,   but  preserved   one  book 

1  An  ch'i  Shc-ng  was  a  legendary  magician.  He  possessed  the  power 
of  making  himself  visible  or  invisible  at  will.  Chin  sent  to  find  him  as  did 
also  the  Han  emperor  Wu  Ti. 


m  m  m  m  If 

Wealth  adorns  the  house,  virtue  the  person. 


247 


that  dealt  in  all  this  demon-lore  with  its  preservatives 
against  demon  influences. 

What  a  splendid  idea  for  an  emperor  to  do  for  his 
whole  realm  what  each  man  was  laboriously  doing  for 
his  tiny  house!     To  shut  out  of  the  whole  empire  the 


Dangerous  baldheaded  nation.    Face  of  man,  wings  of  bird.    Can  fly  and  has 
a  deadly  peck. 

whole  tribe  of  desert  jinns  with  their  baleful  powers; 
to  guard  the  land  entire  from  the  ravages  of  the  devils 
— this  would  be  a  task  worthy  of  an  emperor.  Xo  work 
could  be  esteemed  too  hard  for  such  an  end,  no  toil 
too  difficult,  no  wall  too  long  or  too  lofty.     Did  it 


248  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

need  scores  of  feet  of  stone  piled  up,  did  it  need  towers 
to  rise  far  above  the  mere  wall?  Yet  if  these  could  ren- 
der it  impossible  for  any  hideous  bearer  of  evil  to  cross 
the  line,  if  it  confined  the  moral  pestilence  to  the  dreary 
desert,  no  price  would  be  too  high  to  pay.  May  we  not 
find  in  this  train  of  thought  the  primary  reason  why  the 
superstitious  Chin  caused  the  Wall  to  arise? 

This  may  account  in  some  measure  for  its  existence, 
but  then  there  remains  the  problem  of  its  shape.  This 
is  not  to  be  accounted  for  merely  by  the  recollection 
that  he  used  a  few  previous  walls  and  linked  them  up; 
he  was  not  the  sort  of  man  to  be  influenced  only  by 
utilitarian  motives.  To  make  one  decent  pair  of  trou- 
sers out  of  three  or  four  worn-out  knickerbockers  will 
be  a  tedious  and  expensive  job.  If  Chin  simply  wanted 
to  cut  off  the  sweet  influences  of  the  south  and  confine 
them  to  his  own  domain,  why  not  run  a  screen  right 
along  a  line  of  latitude  and  save  time?  That  was  the 
plan  of  the  Russian  Czar  who  ruled  a  straight  line 
from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow  to  save  the  time  of 
engineers  in  laying  out  the  railroad.  But  the  Wall 
twines  and  coils  and  winds  its  length  up  and  down, 
round  and  round,  till  on  the  map  it  resembles  nothing 
in  heaven  or  earth — except  the  serpentine  band  in  the 
heavens  or  the  mythical  dragon  of  the  East.  Have  we 
hit  it? 

Chin  was  given  to  symbolical  building.  His  vast 
Imperial  Forest  Park  was  dotted  over  with  his  wives' 
palaces  so  disposed  as  to  give  a  map  of  the  heavens 
bounded  by  the  Milky  Way.  Was  the  Wall  meant  to 
depict  this  same  strange  band  in  the  skies?     A  man 


irr@  %  ©  M  Wi  % 


ft 


249 


Bliss   does   not   come   alone,    nor    does    woe    walk 
single  file. 


who  was  capable  of  building  in  a  park  of  two  hundred 
miles  a  map  of  the  heavens,  might  perhaps  have  con- 
ceived a  yet  more  colossal  representation  of  the  most 
striking  celestial  phenomenon. 


Loup:  leg  nation— one  arm  is  Ions  and  the  legs  measure  SO  feet.     Live  in  the 
Nortli  wilderness. 

But  rather  perhaps  was  he  thinking  of  the  great  ter- 
restrial emblem  of  the  empire,  a  dragon,  and  seeking 
to  portray  across  hundreds  of  miles  a  vast  monster 
fraught  with  magical  protective  influences. 


250  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Remember  that  Chin  became  a  Taoist.  He  definitely 
broke  with  the  Confucian  agnostics,  and  proclaimed 
himself  an  adherent  of  that  system  which  seems  to  have 
gathered  up  all  the  folk-lore  and  magic  and  superstition 
of  the  people.  Now  nothing  is  more  closely  entwined 
with  the  popular  imagination  than  the  dragon,  even  at 
the  present  day,  when  the  national  flag  displays  it. 
When  did  this  association  begin?  Peer  back  into  the 
hoary  records,  those  which  Chin  spared  from  destruc- 
tion just  because  of  their  superstition,  and  we  find 
that  centuries  before  his  time  the  dragon  was  one  of  a 
set  of  twelve  symbolic  animals.  The  fact  that  the  other 
eleven  are  real  genuine  creatures  of  those  days  have 
set  some  naturalists  inquiring  whether  the  dragon  of 
those  days  was  not  a  genuine  creature  too;  whether  it 
was  not  perhaps  a  crocodile.  If  popular  fancy  can 
evolve  for  Britons  a  unicorn  like  a  graceful  horse  with 
a  sword-fish's  snout,  out  of  a  genuine  rhinoceros,  pop- 
ular fancy  in  China  was  surely  equal  to  evolving  a 
mythical  dragon  out  of  a  genuine  serpent.1 

We  need  not  however  linger  over  that  question.  Real 
or  imaginary,  the  dragon  bulked  largely  in  the  minds 
of  the  people  as  possessed  of  magical  power.  Was 
there  a  drought,  then  the  Ying  dragon  must  be  made, 
and  as  soon  as  the  heavenly  dragon  sees  this  image 
of  himself  acknowledging  his  power,  and  imploring 
his  help,  so  soon  will  he  cause  the  rains  to  come  and 
bless  the  land.  Now  in  the  ancestral  home  of  Chin 
droughts  are  not  infrequent  and  are  terrible.     The  na- 

1  The  serpent  is  a  likely  prototype.  The  Chinese  themselves  say:  "It  is 
hard  to  distinguish  a  dragon  from  a  serpent." 


jfnwftf  251 

A  brave  father  breeds  brave  sons 

ture  of  the  loose  soil  causes  it  soon  to  dry  and  pulverize 
again  into  dust.  Suppose  that  instead  of  a  dragon  of 
wicker  and  tinsel,  made  for  a  special  occasion,  destined 
soon  to  perish,  there  be  a  permanent  dragon  of  brick 
and  stone  ever  to  appeal  to  the  heavenly  original.  Sup- 
pose that  instead  of  one  petty  dragon  for  this  town, 
and  another  for  that  town,  the  whole  population  unite 
to  manifest  their  unity,  and  construct  one  vast  dragon 
on  behalf  of  the  whole  land.  Such  reasoning  would 
appeal  to  Chin,  the  first  emperor  of  China,  the  Taoist 
devotee.  Such  reasoning  would  appeal  to  the  profes- 
sors of  Feng-Shui,  who  would  see  their  principles  hon- 
ored, and  would  gladly  aid  by  making  out  the  Lucky 
Line  along  which  the  mystic-dragon-image  should  wind 
his  interminable  length.  Such  reasoning  would  appeal 
to  the  myriad  peasants  who  suffered  from  the  drought, 
and  were  accustomed  to  mold  a  protective  dragon  in 
appeal  to  the  mercy  of  the  monster  above. 

But  such  reasoning  would  not  appeal  to  the  Con- 
fucian scholars,  who  viewed  with  contempt  the  super- 
stitions of  the  populace,  and  would  not  deign  to  record 
any  such  motive,  though  the  accomplished  result  might 
compel  notice.  A  Masonic  Temple  may  be  built  to-day 
and  the  fact  receive  attention,  but  the  meaning  of  all 
the  parts  will  not  be  expounded  by  or  for  outsiders.  A 
Christian  cathedral  may  slowly  arise,  with  symbolism 
in  its  every  part;  but  the  newspaper  will  not  explain  to 
its  readers  what  is  typified.  The  rustic  celebrations 
of  St.  John's  Eve  may  be  witnessed  or  described  by 
many  who  never  take  the  trouble  to  find  out  that  they 


252  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

are  survivals  of  ancient  superstition.  So  then,  although 
the  Confucians  have  dropped  no  hint  as  to  any  religious 
purpose  in  this  building,  we  see  ample  reason  why  they 
would  refuse  so  to  do,  even  though  they  knew  it. 

We  are  inclined  to  assert  positively  that  Chin  had 
such  an  idea  dominant  in  his  mind,  for  when  we  think 
over  the  possible  reasons  for  his  undertaking  so  colossal 
a  structure,  we  can  see  no  other  that  is  as  worthy,  no 


Hole-in-the-Breast  Nation.  These  men  have  a  hole  in  the  breast  and  live  east 
of  Russia.  It  is  a  very  common  thing  for  missionaries  in  China  going  to  new 
districts  to  be  asked  if  they  belong  to  these  particular  peoples,  and  the 
bolder  of  interested  parties  will  actually  feel  at  the  missionary's  breast 
expecting  to  find  a  hole  there.  This  very  hoary  tradition  shows  vitality 
even  in  these  latter  matter-of-fact  days.  What  then  must  have  been  the 
force  of  them  in  the  time  of  Chin.  The  modern  coolie  carries  a  load  on  his 
shoulder  but  these  barbarians  put  the  pole  through  the  chest. 

other  that  so  fully  explains  his  action.  Nor  do  we 
claim  that  one  purpose  only  swayed  him;  few  are  the 
people  whose  lives  are  so  simple  that  a  single  motive 
suffices.  But  if  he  had  at  his  disposal  a  vast  amount  of 
labor;   if  he  wished  to  show  clearly  how  far  his  author- 


The  ('-odd    Luck   Pailo  which   stands  two   Ii   east  of   Kiayiikwan,   which  city 
is   seen   in  the   distance 


— _ 


The    Great     Wall     of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

The  Last  C'.ate   of  the   doomed   city  of   Ku   Chang  Tsi,   situated   <>o   li  west 
of  Shan  Tan,  Kansu 


*r  ®  nt  ±  A  253 

In  beating  a  dog  have  regard  to  its  master 

ity  should  extend,  to  treat  outsiders  as  of  a  lower  rank 
and  to  assert  himself  over  those  within ;  if  he  approved 
the  previous  attempts  to  build  a  Rampart  against  in- 
vasion; yet  all  these  purposes  might  blend  and  be 
crowned  by  the  claims  of  religion.  This  might  be  the 
quickening  impulse,  that  brought  all  else  to  fruition. 
And  this,  in  an  age  when  the  misinterpreted  teachings 
of  Confucius  were  deadening  all  sense  of  mystery  and 
of  a  Power  outside  men,  may  be  the  supreme  rec- 
ognition of  a  Ruler  in  the  heavens,  who  will  respond  to 
the  appeal  of  a  people,  and  will  be  merciful  to  those 
who  call  upon  him. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

The  "9  by  3"  City  Liangchowfu 

"Liangchow  produces  three  precious  things: 
Mutabilis,  Rhubarb,  and  Licorice  Stems." 

— Old  Saying. 

Liangchowfu,  the  "9  by  3"  city,  lingers  in  our  mem- 
ory, because  of  Buddhist  nuns,  frog  medicine,  Chris- 
tian missionaries,  and  legends,  for  which  four  it  is 
noted.  The  Chinese  speak  of  it  as  "9  by  3"  for  this 
reason,  which  is  after  the  approved  oriental  fashion — 
north  and  south  the  dimension  is  QXfe  li,  and  east  and 
west  IV2  K.  The  "9"  signifies  the  combined  measure- 
ments of  the  north  and  south  walls,  and  the  "3"  the 
length  of  the  two  east  and  west  walls.  Although  "9  by 
3"  has  a  reputation  for  opium  (whose  acreage  we  are 
glad  to  say  is  being  restricted) ,  stirrups  and  scissors,  yet 
the  nuns  and  frog  medicine  stand  out  as  distinctly  in 
the  memory  as  the  ant  hills  on  the  landscape  of 
Yakusu-on-the-Congo. 

The  Great  Wall,  when  approaching  Liangchowfu, 
takes  a  turn  to  the  north  and  west,  for  which  eccentric- 
ity is  abundant  legendary  explanation.  The  line  of  the 
Barrier  is  crooked  and  the  ruins  lack  picturesqueness, 
but  what  is  lost  to  the  eye  is  made  up  to  the  ear.  The 
legends  are  many.  We  are  now  in  the  second  city  of 
importance  along  the  Great  Wall,  counting  from  east 

254 


31  it  £  ft  255 

Right  makes  one  bold. 

to  west,  which  is  the  course  of  this  exploration.  Liang- 
chowfu  boasts  seventeen  modern  schools,  and  one  hun- 
dred old  style;  several  tens  of  temples,  and  an  intel- 
ligent magistrate,  who  told  us,  "We  do  not  worship 
idols.  We  worship  Confucius  as  you  do  Jesus."  That 
is  likely  true  of  the  educated,  who  are  already  ashamed 
of  the  senseless  images,  but  the  common  people  regard 
with  superstitious  awe  the  old  mud  gods  of  hideous 
aspect.  Men  of  clear  mental  vision  see  the  handwriting 
on  the  wall;   idolatry  is  doomed! 

Crafty  arts  and  active  graves  are  among  the  curi- 
osities of  this  important  business  center.  Seven  mon- 
asteries, eight  large  temples,  and  seven  active  graves, 
constitute  the  sights  of  the  city.  The  Eight  Wonders 
of  Liangchowfu  include  a  suspended  sword  which 
points  toward  a  pass  in  the  South  Mountains,  whence 
issue  waters  from  the  melting  snow.  As  long  as  the 
sword  points  in  that  direction,  those  waters  cannot  enter 
and  submerge  the  metropolis! 

Liangchowfu  has  "patent"  remedies  in  variety  and 
quantity.  It  also  has  one  hundred  and  ten  doctors  who 
practise  on  the  twenty  thousand  families  who  live  inside 
the  strong  walls.  The  physicians  treat  disease  according 
to  the  medicine  book  which  was  written  long  ago  by  a 
medicine  man  who  became  the  medicine  god  after  his 
death.  He  is  worshiped  on  his  birthday,  the  nineteenth 
sun,  fourth  moon.  The  doctors  report  many  "cures  of 
the  sickness."  They  cure  the  sickness  and  not  the  pa- 
tient. The  Chinese  are  ignorant  of  surgery,  hence  we 
have  seen  but  two  one-armed  men  in  all  our  travels  and 


256  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

those  lost  the  member  by  foreign  surgery.  When  an 
arm  goes  wrong  they  bury  the  whole  man.  Speaking  of 
surgery,  reminds  us  of  barbers.  Of  these  there  are 
two  hundred,  who  pay  their  devotions  to  a  god  of  their 
own,  a  distinguished  alchemist  who  in  1700  attained 
immortality  at  the  age  of  fifty.  The  tonsorial  artists 
are  prosperous  and  popular,  and  are  organized  in  a 
guild,  but  they  occupy  a  low  social  position.  Indeed, 
so  degraded  are  they  socially,  that  only  after  several 
generations  may  they  hope  to  obtain  public  office.  The 
Chinese  barber  carries  a  pole  as  he  goes  about  serving 
his  clients.  Xot  unlikely  the  modern  barber's  pole 
originated  in  China. 

When  we  suggested  to  the  good  missionary,  Belcher, 
a  visit  to  the  nuns,  he  was  evidently  surprised  at  our 
audacity.  Insistency  won.  The  residence  of  the  nuns 
adjoins  a  frog  pond.  Beside  this  miasmatic  incubator 
stood  a  young  native  who  showed  us  to  the  door  of  the 
sacred  sisterhood.  After  rapping  and  receiving  no  re- 
ply, we  ventured  to  give  the  door  a  gentle  push.  When 
it  yielded  we  entered.  The  superior  nun  thereupon 
became  visible.  We  explained  that  we  were  on  an  ex- 
ploring expedition  and  accustomed  ourselves  to  first- 
hand information.  We  further  specified  that,  having 
heard  things  good  and  not  good  concerning  the  holy 
order,  we  had  come  to  the  source  of  information  and 
begged  to  be  shown  through,  and  to  be  told  about  the 
aims  and  ambitions  of  the  society.  This  speech  modified 
her  facial  expression  and  she  proceeded  to  show  us  about 
the  place.  She  represented  the  two  thousand  nuns  of 
Liangchowfu.    She  also  represents  the  nuns  of  China. 


m  =f  #  ft  *  4n  *  a         257 

Bringing   up   a   son    without  teaching  is  just  like 
bringing  up  a  mule. 

The  number  she  did  not  know.  In  845  a.d.  there  were 
nearly  forty-five  thousand  temples  and  monasteries 
destroyed  and  forty-two  thousand  monks,  nuns  and 
minors  thrown  out  of  employment,  or  rather  into  em- 
ployment. She  became  pleasant,  but  a  certain  pro- 
nounced reticence  continuing,  we  apportioned  to  her 
some  of  our  supply  of  silver,  whereupon  like  magic 
the  doors  flew  open  and  we  had  the  run  of  the  nun- 
nery! From  that  moment  there  was  volubility.  Par- 
ticularly now,  when  all  China  rubs  its  eyes,  yawns, 
and  prepares  to  awake  out  of  a  sleep  of  centuries, 
it  is  of  interest  to  know  just  how  much  house  cleaning 
will  be  necessary  before  the  supreme  change  can  come. 
Religion  is  all-important.  Hence  we  took  time  to  see 
and  hear  at  this  nunnery,  center  and  adjunct  of 
Buddhism,  the  religion  largely  responsible  for  China's 
backward   state. 

The  favorite  temple  of  the  nuns  is  kept  locked  to 
prevent  a  competing  body  of  nuns  worshiping  there. 
A  quarrel  taking  place,  certain  females  moved  upstairs 
and  started  a  goddery  of  their  own.  The  first-floor 
deities  consisted  of  two  goddesses  with  a  god  between. 
The  felt  prayer  dial  was  located  in  front  of  the  male 
deity,  the  sisters  evidently  having  more  confidence  in 
one  of  the  stronger  sex.  They  worship  twice  a  day. 
"We  have  no  clock.  When  the  spirit  of  worship  is 
on  us  we  come."  So  said  nun  number  one.  She  told 
us  the  nuns  perform  no  works  of  mercy.  "We  do  not 
nurse  the  sick,  care  for  the  insane,  or  conduct  a  school 
for  girls.    We  only  pray,  burn  incense  and  beg."    The 

17 


258  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

oculist  goddess  was  hung  about  the  neck  with  painted 
eyes.  "She  likes  to  have  people  whose  eyes  she  has 
healed  bring  eyes  of  their  color  and  hang  them  on  her 
neck."  On  the  fifteenth  sun  of  the  eleventh  moon  they 
offer  sacrifices. 

Nun  number  one  bade  us  enter  the  Ten  Princes  of 
Hell  Temple.  We  asked,  "What  advantage  to  worship 
the  ten  princes  of  hell?"  She  laughed,  "Everybody 
does  it  and  we  do  it.  Don't  know  any  good  that  comes 
from  it."  She  explained  that  the  cow- faced  and  horse- 
faced  figures  burn  incense  in  the  bottomless  pit  to 
the  ten  princes  of  hell.  The  ten  princesses  next 
obtained  our  attention.  These  are  sometimes  called 
Heavenly  Holy  Mothers!  Here  were  many  stolen  idols 
indicating  that  vows  for  sons  were  answered.  When 
children  have  measles  their  cure  is  effected  by  carry- 
ing them  through  a  dark  passage  behind  the  idols. 
This  is  known  as  the  "tube  for  curing  measles."  Al- 
though not  so  qualified  we  decided  to  take  the  journey 
through  the  tube.  It  was  enough  to  give  a  body  some 
sort  of  sickness.  In  that  abode  of  darkness  we  noticed 
twelve  arches  under  which  we  had  to  stoop  to  pass. 
These  represented  twelve  children  cured  by  the  jour- 
ney. At  each  end  of  the  tube  is  a  god  named  "The 
Controller  of  Measles."  .  .  . 

About  two  thousand  short-haired  nuns  live  in  "9 
by  3."  The  stock  of  nuns  is  replenished  in  divers 
ways.  The  wife  of  a  mandarin  recently  ran  away  and 
joined  the  sisterhood  because  her  husband  had  taken 
on  an  additional  wife;  he  came  and  took  her  home. 
In  competition  with  these  two  thousand  nuns,  ignorant 


—  a  2  'X  W  Ji<  $  UK  259 

A  single  spark  can  burn  a  whole  prairie. 

and  unclean,  are  two  Christian  ladies,  who  are  doing 
a  satisfactory  work  for  the  women  and  girls  of  the 
city.  The  girls  of  China  have  need  of  higher  truth 
than  nature  has  gifted  them  with.  A  new  day  dawns 
in  the  minds  of  the  women  on  the  Hills  of  T'ang. 
That  the  new  desires  are  separate,  disordered,  and  il- 
logical is  nothing  strange.  The  conception  of  deity 
which  has  for  centuries  held  in  bondage  the  females 
of  China  has  been  a  physical  rather  than  a  spiritual  idea. 
What  a  distance  of  difference  between  the  two  thou- 
sand nuns,  individually  and  collectively,  and  the  two 
cultured  Christian  English  ladies!  When  the  whole 
environment  is  considered,  the  success  the  English 
ladies  have  attained  is  little  short  of  the  miraculous! 
Outside  -the  city  the  Roman  Catholic  mission  with  a 
resident  bishop  is  working  hard,  and  a  good  measure  of 
success  attends  their  efforts  to  bring  the  Chinese  into 
the  church. 

Among  the  many  legends,  historical  and  otherwise, 
abounding  in  this  region,  we  have  selected  one  that 
tells  of  the  finding  of  a  large  quantity  of  gold  in  the 
Great  Wall.  It  would  be  possible  to  write  it  into  bet- 
ter English  and  indeed  a  recast  of  the  plot  might 
better  please  the  reader,  but  our  aim  is  to  display  as 
much  of  the  idiom  of  the  native  as  possible,  and  at 
the  same  time  carry  the  sense  to  the  mind  of  the 
foreigner,  simply  omitting  tedious  tautology. 

"When  the  Mings  were  kings  the  village  of  Hong 
Water  lay  a  few  li  from  Liangchow  with  the  Great 
Wall  on  one  side  and  the  quicksands  of  the  Red  River 


260  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

on  the  other.  Indeed  the  whole  region  was  unsafe. 
One  thousand  families  occupied  caves  and  caverns  in 
the  ample  sides  of  the  Great  Barrier.  This  appro- 
priated fifty  li  of  the  Rampart.  Among  these  cave- 
dwellers  was  a  sturdy,  well-meaning  man  named  Wang, 
who  had  a  sister  Kin,  and  a  widowed  mother.  The 
mother,  a  woman  of  lofty  motives,  steadily  refused  to 
marry  again.  She  devoted  her  whole  time  and  thought 
to  her  son.  She  had  a  brother  who  was  worthless,  be- 
ing a  drinking  man.  He  was  a  gambler  and  squan- 
dered much  of  his  nephew's  estate.  He  it  was  who 
urged  his  sister  to  marry,  hoping  thereby  to  obtain 
money  to  continue  the  evil  habit  of  gambling.  She  de- 
clined. Her  husband  had  left  her  one  hundred  acres  of 
land,  oxen  and  carts,  and  a  faithful  servant,  Ma  Er 
Ma.  Ma  Er  Ma  engaged  suitable  servants  for  the  house 
and  also  men  to  watch  the  sheep  and  cattle  and  perform 
agricultural  duties.  Ma  Er  Ma  was  a  success;  every- 
thing he  touched  prospered,  and  eight  years  passed  like 
a  weaver's  shuttle. 

"Constantly  schemes  were  applied  to  persuade  by 
craft  or  argument  the  widow  to  marry.  It  was  hinted 
that  Ma  Er  Ma  was  too  polite  to  the  widow.  He  retired 
to  his  own  farm,  just  what  the  enemies  of  the  woman 
wished.  From  that  time  the  farm  began  to  fail,  and  the 
poor  widow's  poverty  was  consummated  by  the  wild 
Tibetans,  who  swept  over  the  border  on  a  foraging 
expedition  and  stole  everything  she  had  left. 

"The  Mings  had  ordered  that  the  soldiers  guarding 
the  Great  Wall  should  also  do  farming,  but  the  Tibetan 
attacks  becoming  frequent  the  land  was  neglected,  and 


#  ft  ffy  -%■  im  #  SS  fti  261 

A  good  hearer  is  better  than  a  good  speaker. 

the  whole  strength  of  the  garrisons  kept  on  duty.  Now 
it  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  son  of  the  widow  to  be  stationed 
on  the  fort  Tsh  Tsen,  on  the  Wall.  The  wicked  uncle 
and  another  worthless  fellow  were  detailed  with  him 
to  hold  the  northeast  corner.  When  the  Tibetans 
charged  the  fortifications  the  two  threw  the  son  into 
their  midst,  hoping  thus  to  get  rid  of  the  hindrance  to 
their  diabolical  plans.  But  High  Heaven  was  watchful. 
Instead  of  being  killed  he  fell  into  an  old  well,  but  the 
two  conspirators  were  cut  to  pieces  by  the  wild  horse- 
men, who  dismounted  and  carried  the  fort  by  storm. 
A  large  Tibetan  seized  the  two  women,  threw  them 
across  his  horse,  and  was  riding  off  when  the  animal 
stumbled  and  threw  the  living  load  into  the  dark  bush. 
The  warrior,  not  seeing  them,  concluded  they  were 
killed  and  rode  off.  The  two  women  recovering  from 
the  stun  of  the  fall  found  themselves  in  a  well,  empty 
save  that  one  other  person  was  in  there.  What  joy 
when  they  discovered  the  whole  family  safe  and  to- 
gether ! 

"Hearing  loyal  troops  passing  they  cried  aloud;  the 
three  were  rescued  and  returned  to  their  place  only  to 
see  the  smoke-seared  ruins.  They  sought  a  cave  in  the 
Great  Wall  and  settled  down  to  live  by  gathering  roots 
and  desert  cabbage,  desert  onions,  and  cereals  resem- 
bling bird's  eyes,  good  for  flour. 

"In  a  few  days  sufficient  had  been  garnered  to  last  the 
winter  through.  To  store  this  valuable  harvest  it  was 
necessary  to  dig  a  cave  in  the  Great  Wall.  They 
worked  long  and  hard,  until  striking  some  substance 


262  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

a  resonant  sound  reached  their  ears  and  gave  them 
pause;  it  was  wooden,  and  thinking  it  a  coffin  the  son 
ceased  his  work,  but  the  mother  dug  on  until  it  was 
plainly  a  door.  On  it  was  an  inscription.  Treasure 
had  been  hid  there  long  before.  It  was  a  cavern  of 
gold!  The  dutiful  son  reported  the  matter  to  the  high 
magistrate,  who  in  turn  notified  the  viceroy,  who  in- 
formed the  Son  of  Heaven.  The  emperor  was  de- 
lighted, not  because  of  the  find  of  treasure,  but  because 
Wang  was  a  dutiful  son  and  loyal  subject.  The  throne 
ordered  Wang  a  general,  the  mother  a  peeress,  the 
daughter,  wife  of  a  great  man,  and  an  edict  directed 
the  erection  of  a  temple  to  Goodness  and  Virtue,  where- 
on was  inscribed  the  widow's  name  with  great  honor. 
The  descendants  of  Wang  Kuang  are  innumerable!" 

Thus  endeth  the  tale  of  gold  in  the  Great  Wall, 
quite  possibly  founded  on  fact.  We  have  seen  many 
caves  in  the  structure  which  are  now  being  used  as 
residences.  Of  these  the  Chinese  say:  "Those  who  live 
in  earthen  dugouts  have  three  things  which  cannot  hap- 
pen; in  the  summer  they  cannot  be  hot,  in  the  winter 
they  cannot  be  cold,  and  when  the  cave  falls  in  they 
cannot  be  found."  We  have  hesitated  to  mention  the 
products  of  the  fields  about  Liangchowfu,  and  the 
various  articles  of  merchandise  from  foreign  countries 
offered  in  the  public  streets,  because  others  have  trav- 
eled this  way,  and  have  given  considerable  space  cata- 
loguing the  commercial  articles  and  fabrics  of  "9  by 
3."  There  are,  however,  three  brought  from  beyond 
the  Wall, — sableskins,  ginseng,  and  Wula  grasses, — the 
drug  roots. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

Yung  Lo,  Who  "Moved  the  Urns  of  Empire" 

When  Yung  Lo,  the  great  Ming,  ascended  the  "Di- 
vine Utensil,"  ancient  throne  of  the  Chins,  with  a  saga- 
city worthy  of  the  Greatest  Huang  Ti  he  arbitrarily 
decreed  the  shifting  of  the  center  of  empire  from  the 
comfortable  south  to  the  windy  north.  Kublai  Khan 
had  built  his  capital,  Kambaluc,  inside  the  Great  Wall, 
that,  if  necessary,  he  might  promptly  defend  that  struc- 
ture from  its  friends.  Yung  Lo  constructed  Peking 
hard  by  the  Mongol  site  to  facilitate  his  personal  de- 
fense of  the  Great  Wall  from  its  ancient  foes.  We 
may  safely  assert  that  the  modern  capital  of  this  vast 
empire  is  now  in  the  north  because  the  Great  Wall 
dictated  a  policy  necessitating  the  permanent  presence 
there  of  the  sovereign.  To  alter  the  center  of  empire, 
or,  as  the  Chinese  would  say,  "move  the  urns  of  empire," 
is  only  less  important  than  to  interfere  with  the  original 
distribution  of  the  races  of  men. 

After  the  dynasty  that  founded  the  Great  Wall, 
that  whose  history  is  most  closely  associated  with  the 
enormous  structure,  is  the  dynasty  of  Ming,  some  fif- 
teen centuries  later.  Of  its  sixteen  emperors,  those 
who  had  most  to  do  with  the  mighty  defense  were 
Yung  Lo,  Ch'eng  Hua,  Lung  Ch'ing  and  Wan  Li.1 

1  These  are  only  their  nien-hao  or  "year-titles."  Their  dynastic  titles 
are,  respectively,  Ch'eng  Tsu,  Hsien  Tsung,  Mu  Tsung  and  Shen  Tsung. 

263 


264  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Here  we  speak  of  the  first,  the  creator  of  Peking,  the 
first  Chinese  to  rule  the  empire  thence. 

The  Mongol  Tartars  under  Genghis  Khan  had  bro- 
ken through  the  Wall  and  placed  their  yoke  on  the 
Chinese — first  foreigners  so  to  subdue  the  proud  race. 
Kublai  Khan  had  organized  his  empire,  and  left  his 
mark  in  two  vast  structures:  the  Great  Canal,  and  the 
capital  of  Khan  baligh,  Kambaluc,  whence  he  ruled 
as  far  as  Moscow  and  the  Levant.  Of  the  capital, 
Longfellow  has  told  how 

Into  the  city  of  Kambulu 
By  the  road  that  leadeth  to  Ispahan, 
At  the  head  of  his  dusty  caravan, 
Laden  with  treasure  from  realms  afar, 
Baldacca  and  Kelat  and  Kandahar, 
Rode  the  great  captain  Alau. 

But  this  capital  was  superseded  by  Yung  Lo  and 
his  father,  as  will  presently  appear. 

The  excavation  of  the  Grand  Canal  may  be  compared 
with  the  Great  Wall  in  magnitude.  Under  the  Mon- 
gols the  Wall  had  ceased  to  be  useful.  They  were 
constantly  at  war  with  the  Japanese.  An  attempt  to 
conquer  the  Islands  of  the  Rising  Sun  had  turned  out 
a  disastrous  failure.  Their  Armada  had  been  shattered 
by  a  storm,  their  naval  forces  drowned  or  slain  by  the 
enemy,  and  the  whole  seaboard  was  left  exposed  to  the 
raids  of  men  who  were  fighting  on  their  native  element. 
For  these  the  nomads  of  the  north  were  no  match. 

The  powers  at  Xandu  felt  the  necessity  for  inland 
transportation  for  the  tribute  of  South  China  which  was 


!£!wti#*:**niif6ffi«       265 

When  the  mantis  catches  the  cicada  he  does  not 
know  that  the  oriole  is  just  behind. 

paid  in  the  produce  of  its  fertile  fields.  Already  were 
those  fields  covered  with  a  network  of  canals  whose  prin- 
cipal use  was  the  irrigation  of  crops.  For  local  trans- 
port these  channels  were  universally  employed.  Why 
not  connect  them  together  by  cutting  through  the  hills 
or  ridges  by  which  the  different  river  systems  were 
separated?  The  idea  had  everything  to  recommend  it. 
It  offered  not  merely  a  safe  route  for  supplies,  but 
additional  facilities  for  the  movement  of  troops. 

It  was  at  once  an  economic  and  military  necessity — 
destined  to  link  north  and  south  together  as  a  unit,  as 
never  before,  by  the  bonds  of  mutual  advantage.  From 
the  Dragon  Throne  went  forth  the  fiat,  "Let  a  canal  be 
built  to  connect  the  northern  capital  with  Nanking, 
Hangchow  and  Canton." 

It  was  to  be  one  thousand  six  hundred  miles  in  length, 
almost  exactly  as  long  as  the  Great  Wall,  measured  by 
longitude,  but  I  dare  not  assert  that  the  hydraulic  en- 
gineers charged  with  its  construction  ever  thought  of 
taking  the  Wall  as  standard  of  measurement. 

Passing  through  great  provinces,  the  gems  of  the 
empire,  it  was  to  reach  almost  to  the  borders  of  Tonquin. 
By  means  of  the  Hwang  ho,  the  Yangtze  Kiang  and 
the  West  River,  all  coming  from  the  west,  it  was  to 
afford  access  by  water  to  the  whole  of  the  other 
provinces.  What  more  magnificent  scheme  could 
spring  in  the  brain  of  a  mighty  potentate  ?  What  more 
beneficent  enterprise  could  he  undertake  for  the  good 
of  a  great  people?  Unhappily  the  ruler  undertook  to 
build  the  Grand  Canal  much  as  Chin  built  the  Wall  or 


266  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

as  the  Pharaohs  built  the  pyramids,  by  the  forced  labor 
of  his  subjects.  The  people  who  in  the  end  were  in- 
tended to  be  greatest  gainers,  unable  to  endure  the 
miseries  of  an  unpaid,  ill-fed  corvee,  would  gladly 
have  fled  their  country  like  the  Hebrews  of  old,  had  it 
been  possible  to  do  so.  Debarred  from  that  recourse, 
they  hailed  the  standard  of  revolt,  resolved  to  die  as 
soldiers  rather  than  perish  as  ignominious  navvies.  The 
Grand  Canal  was  thus  the  ruin  of  one  generation  and 
the  salvation  of  thousands,  more  truly  than  the  Great 
Wall,  of  which  that  is  so  often  asserted.  Like  the  latter 
it  proved  the  destruction  of  the  tyrannical  power  which 
had  undertaken  to  carry  it  through  by  unwise  and  in- 
human methods.  For  the  scepter  of  Kublai  fell  into 
weak  hands,  and  the  Chinese  lost  the  sole  advantage 
they  had  received  from  foreign  rule. 

Revolts  occurred  in  many  places,  and  at  last  a  Bud- 
dhist priest  named  Hung  Wu1  commanded  enough  con- 
fidence to  be  accepted  as  a  national  leader.  From  a 
robber  chief  he  developed  into  an  emancipator,  protect- 
ing the  people  from  robbery  and  extortion.  Then, 
secured  by  general  good-will,  he  marched  boldly  on 
Kambaluc  to  destroy  the  waning  prestige  of  the  Mon- 
gol emperors.  The  craven  tyrant  abandoned  his  palace 
and  fled  beyond  the  Wall,  which  once  again  regained 
importance  as  a  boundary  between  China  and  the  hated 
barbarians. 

Vengeance  was  wreaked  on  the  foreign  city  which 
had    enthralled    the    realm — like    Alexandria    holding 

JChu  Yiian-ehang,  who  afterwards  assumed  the  "year-title."  (Here  of 
course  the  year-title  cannot  be  used).  Hung  Wu  is  the  year-title  of  the 
Emperor  T'ai  Tsu. 


+  «^#5B*1S-»!*         267 

The  ten  fingers  cannot  be  all  one  length. 

down  Egypt.  But  when  Kambaluc  had  fallen,  it  was 
still  felt  that  the  district  had  been  wisely  chosen,  and 
that  since  the  Great  Wall  had  revived  in  importance  as 
a  barrier  against  the  expelled  Mongols,  there  should  be 
a  strong  Chinese  center  not  far  from  it,  to  serve  as  a 
fortress  and  base  of  supplies  for  the  defenders.  And 
so  about  nine  li  south  of  the  ruined  site  of  Kambaluc 
there  arose  a  first-class  city  which  has  been  famous  ever 
since  as  Peking. 

Here  the  conqueror  left  his  second  son,  Chu  Ti,  with 
the  title  of  Yen  Wang  (i.e.,  Prince  of  Yen) ,  a  revival 
of  an  old  style  in  the  local  kingdom  before  the  days  of 
Chin.  Chu  Ti  had  the  special  duty  of  guarding  the 
frontier  against  the  late  Mongol  tyrants,  while  Hung 
Wu  returned  to  his  native  district  in  the  Yangtze 
basin,  and  chose  the  city  of  Nanking,  which  had  al- 
ready been  a  capital  more  than  once,  as  the  seat  of  his 
restored  Chinese  Empire,  now  to  be  reorganized  after 
the  long  foreign  tyranny. 

Chu  Ti  from  his  vantage  in  the  north  would  quickly 
recognize  the  importance  of  the  old  Great  Wall,  and 
could  not  but  avail  himself  of  its  strength  to  exclude 
the  foe  who  had  trespassed  over  its  boundary.  But  he 
had  not  long  exercised  his  functions  as  viceroy,  and 
strengthened  his  defenses,  ere  a  swift  courier  brought 
the  tidings  that  the  mighty  conqueror,  his  father,  had 
yielded  to  a  Mightier  than  he. 

For  his  father  he  grieved  no  doubt  sincerely,  but  to 
his  proud  spirit  it  was  gall  and  wormwood  to  be  called 
on  to  bend  the  knee  and  knock  the  head  before  an  infant 


268  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

son  of  his  elder  brother.  To  his  brother  he  might  have 
rendered  willing  fealty;  but  the  brother  was  dead, 
and  he  persuaded  himself  that  his  own  merits  had  been 
cruelly  ignored,  while  the  throne  which  he  had  aided  to 
establish  was  put  in  jeopardy  by  leaving  the  scepter  in 
the  feeble  grasp  of  a  child. 

Disguising  his  intentions  under  the  cloak  of  homage 
he  repaired  to  Nanking  with  an  immense  retinue,  throw- 
ing the  court  off  its  guard  by  a  show  of  loyalty.  Se- 
cretly abetted  by  many  of  the  grandees  as  well  as  by 
his  own  soldiers,  he  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of 
the  palace,  which  he  set  on  fire,  and  the  hapless  boy 
perished  in  the  flames. 

Not  even  then  did  he  throw  off  the  mask,  but  finding 
a  charred  corpse  which  he  asserted  to  be  that  of  the 
unfortunate  Chien  Wen,  he  gave  it  a  sumptuous  funeral 
and  immediately  "Ascended  the  Summit,"  proclaiming 
himself  Emperor  of  China  under  the  title  of  Ch'eng 
Tsu,  with  the  year-title  Yung  Lo,  which  expressed  a 
hope  of  a  "long  and  joyous  reign."1 

The  reign  was  signalized  by  great  monuments,  such 

1  There  is  considerable  doubt  about  the  fate  of  Chien  Wen.  When  Chu 
Yiin-wen  (Chien  Wen)  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  1398,  he  at  once  took 
measures  to  deprive  of  power  his  uncles,  who  were  princes  of  various  parts 
of  the  empire.  But  Ti,  prince  of  Yen,  who  ruled  modern  Chihli,  rebelled 
in  1399,  marched  southwards,  and  in  spite  of  several  earlier  reverses  in 
Shantung  crossed  the  Yangtze  in  1403  and  entered  Nanking  in  triumph. 
The  young  emperor  disappeared  in  the  confusion  which  followed  upon  the 
entry  of  the  troops  into  his  palace  and  was  never  seen  again.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  he  fled  to  Yunnan  in  the  garb  of  a  monk,  left  to  him,  so  the 
story  runs,  with  full  directions  by  his  grandfather.  After  nearly  forty 
years'  wandering,  he  is  said  to  have  gone  to  Peking  and  lived  in  seclusion 
in  the  palace  until  his  death.  He  was  recognized  by  an  eunuch  from  a  mole 
on  his  left  foot,  but  the  eunuch  was  afraid  to  reveal  his  identity. 

(See  Giles'  Chinese  Biographical  Dictionary.) 


«AW&1St*«#  269 

Murder  may  be  condoned,  but  discourtesy  never. 

as  the  city  of  Peking,  which  he  now  proceeded  to  en- 
large till  it  became  beyond  compare  the  most  formidable 
fortress  China  knew.  The  massive  walls,  sixteen  miles 
in  circuit,  remain  after  these  centuries,  fit  memorials 
of  a  mighty  monarch.  An  inner  line  of  fortification 
inclosed  a  triple  hill  now  known  as  Kingshan,  a  finer 
ornament  for  a  city  than  Rome  possessed  in  her  far- 
famed  Mons  Capitolinus. 

And  then  Yung  Lo  determined  on  the  striking  pol- 
icy of  making  his  new  fortress  into  the  capital  of  the 
whole  realm.  It  is  a  dangerous  experiment  to  "move 
the  urns  of  empire,"  as  his  father  had  done,  away 
from  the  Kambaluc  district.  Turin,  Milan  and  Flor- 
ence have  grudged  their  reduction  to  mere  provincial 
towns,  even  though  sentiment  spoke  for  Rome.  There 
was  no  modern  sentiment  yet  engendered  for  Nanking; 
it  lay  a  waste,  as  it  still  is.  But  also  there  was  none  at 
all  for  Peking,  a  new  creation.  His  proceedings  can 
only  be  compared  with  Constantine,  who  was  com- 
pletely remodeling  the  old  empire,  consolidating  under 
one  head,  and  strengthening  with  the  sanctions  of  a 
new  religion.  Constantine  felt  that  the  old  capital 
was  permeated  with  traditions  which  he  intended  to 
break  with,  so  he  built  a  new  city  in  the  Christian 
provinces  and  made  that  the  new  capital.  There  were 
other  motives  too;  the  external  enemy  to  Constantine 
lay  in  the  east,  and  he  felt  it  wise  to  have  his  center 
nearer  to  the  dangerous  frontier,  at  an  impregnable  site. 

Yung  Lo  was  breaking  with  the  tradition  of  the 
Mongols,  and  with  their  religion — they  were  leaning 


270  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

to  Christianity — and  he  wished  to  be  in  person  near 
the  frontier  over  which  they  had  fled.  So  it  was  ex- 
pressly proclaimed  in  1403  that  the  main  forces,  under 
the  direct  command  of  His  Majesty,  were  to  be  can- 
toned near  the  northern  boundary  in  order  to  repel 
possible  invasion;  Peking  therefore  would  become  the 
capital,  and  Nanking  would  revert  to  its  previous  im- 
portance as  the  mere  seat  of  a  provincial  governor. 

If  this  is  the  chief  monument  to  Yung  Lo,  yet  his 
sepulcher  also  claims  admiration.  It  is  the  most  mag- 
nificent of  the  thirteen  tombs  of  the  Mings.  His  tumu- 
lus is  like  a  pyramid  for  height;  its  wall  incloses  an 
amphitheater  so  vast  that  its  grove  of  funereal  pines 
presents  the  appearance  of  a  forest.  Its  weather- 
beaten  halls  are  supported  on  huge  pillars  of  Siamese 
teak  wood  which  seem  to  defy  the  tooth  of  time,  and  to 
suggest  a  doubt  whether  columns  of  marble  would  be 
equally  adapted  to  sustain  the  seismic  convulsions 
which  are  frequent  in  this  region.  There  are  bridges 
of  granite  and  tablets  of  marble  whose  carved  wreaths, 
I  blush  to  say,  are  frequently  defaced  by  occidental 
tourists  who,  like  the  Greek  fool  in  our  school  books, 
desired  to  carry  away  a  piece  of  stone  as  a  specimen  of 
the  house. 

Beside  these  tangible  repositories  of  Yung  Lo's  sa- 
cred dust  there  are  two  monuments  which  do  him  great 
honor,  the  Grand  Encyclopedia,  and  a  Collection  of 
Laws.  As  for  "the  Grand  Encyclopedia — the  Yung 
Lo  Ta  Tien — it  is — or,  alas!  was — the  greatest  literary 
marvel  in  the  history  of  the  world,"  says  the  brilliant 
orientalist,  Mr.   Lionel  Giles,  M.A.    (of  the  British 


mm&mM%%'g  &  ®      271 

Generals  and  ministers  are  not  ready-born  but  self 
made. 

Museum).  "I  say  this  without  the  least  fear  of  con- 
tradiction. Here  are  a  few  authentic  figures.  For  a 
fuller  account  I  must  refer  you  to  my  father's  article 
on  the  subject  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  April,  1901 
(vol.  49,  pp.  659).  This  gigantic  collection  of  litera- 
ture on  every  conceivable  subject  was  originally  pro- 
duced (in  MS.)  at  Nanking  in  1408  a.d.,  by  an 
imperial  commission  consisting  of  five  chief  directors, 
twenty  sub-directors  and  no  fewer  than  2,169  subordi- 
nates. It  comprised  22,877  separate  parts  and  an  in- 
dex of  60  parts  in  11,100  bound  volumes,  each  half  an 
inch  thick,  1  foot  8  inches  long  and  1  foot  broad.  Laid 
fiat  one  on  top  of  another,  the  volumes  would  make  a 
column  over  460  feet  in  height,  or  considerably  higher 
than  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  There  were,  roughly,  917,- 
480  pages  in  the  whole  work.  Each  page  contains  16 
columns  averaging  25  characters  to  each,  or  a  total  of 
366,992,000  characters.  In  1421,  the  encyclopedia  was 
transferred  to  Peking.  The  work  of  printing  was 
found  to  be  too  costly,  but  in  1567  two  complete  copies 
were  made,  and  the  original,  together  with  one  of  the 
copies,  sent  back  to  Nanking,  where  they  perished  by 
fire  in  1644,  at  the  downfall  of  the  Ming  dynasty.  The 
other  copy  was  housed  in  the  Hanlin  College  at  Pe- 
king, where  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Boxers  in  1900.  A 
few  odd  volumes  were  saved  by  foreigners.  One  of 
these  was  sent  home  and  presented  to  the  British  Mu- 
seum by  my  brother,  and  two  others  have  recently  been 
acquired  by  the  same  institution.  They  are  in  an 
excellent  state  of  preservation." 


272  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

In  the  records  of  his  reign  there  are  constant  ref- 
erences to  the  guard  posts  on  the  line  of  the  Great 
Wall.  He  repaired  its  breaches  and  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that  many  of  the  Martello,  or  spy  towers,  still  to 
be  seen  were  constructed  by  the  Emperor  Yung  Lo. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

The  Southern  Loop  of  the  Great  Wall 

"The  tongue  is  soft  and  constantly  remains  in; 
The  teeth  are  hard,  and  fall  out." 

— Lanchow  Proverb. 

The  highest  altitude  reached  by  the  Great  Wall  is 
on  a  pass  between  Liangchow  and  Lanchow,  where 
ten  thousand  feet1  above  the  tide  runs  the  line  of  the 
Barrier.  This  southern  loop  along  which  we  are  now 
traveling  is  a  deep  festoon  attached  to  the  main  line 
of  the  Great  Barrier  at  Chungwei  and  Liangchow. 
The  whole  fabric  is  in  ruins,  considerable,  and  grass 
covered. 

The  generation  living  in  the  day  of  Chin  the  First 
is  called  in  history  "The  Generation  of  War,"  because 
fighting  was  constantly  proceeding.  When  Chin  as- 
sumed the  imperial  title,  the  employment  of  cavalry 
instead  of  war  chariots  greatly  enlarged  the  scope  of 
active  operations.  Chariots  limited  battles  to  fiat  and 
unobstructed  stretches,  but  with  cavalry  fewer  places 
were  free  from  attack.  Thus  the  difficulty  of  guard- 
ing the  country  having  increased,  it  was  suggested  that 
walls  be  erected  or  connected  to  facilitate  the  movement 
of  troops  and  to  prevent  surprise,  as  well  as  for  the 
purpose  of  marking  clearly  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  empire. 

1  In  round  numbers. 
18  273 


274  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

It  is  a  question  how  much  of  the  present  work  is 
due  to  Chin.  Emerson  reminds  us  "that  whenever  we 
find  a  man  higher  by  a  whole  head  than  any  of  his 
contemporaries,  it  is  sure  to  come  into  doubt  what  are 
his  real  works."  There  were  walls  to  three  feudal  states 
before  his  day,  which  he  linked  up  and  covered  the 
ground  from  Minchow  to  the  Gulf  of  Liaotung.  And 
the  many  foundations  traceable  point  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  every  pure  Chinese  dynasty  has  had  a  wall  of 
its  own  against  the  northern  foes.  What  we  are  on  here 
is  certainly  not  of  earlier  date  than  the  Great  Wall  of 
the  Mings,  which  follows  more  or  less  the  lines  traced 
by  Chin. 

Between  the  two  Chows,  Liangchow  and  Lanchow, 
there  is  little  worthy  of  attention,  unless  the  traveler 
is  seeking  copper,  or  other  valuable  minerals,  which 
abound  in  this  rough  region.  Otherwise,  aside  from  the 
superb  scenery,  there  remain  in  the  mind  prominently 
but  three  objects  of  a  special  interest,  the  lofty  pass, 
Wushi  Ling,  the  medical  meteor,  and  the  Big  Bar- 
rier, about  all  of  which  cling  ancient  traditions.  As  to 
the  lofty  pass,  a  temple  occupies  a  strategic  spot  be- 
side the  Great  Boundary.  Gods  guard  the  Great  Wall 
at  its  highest  elevation  above  the  sea.  Although  our 
visit  was  early  in  the  eighth  moon  the  winds  were  already 
cold.  The  old  priest  informed  us  that  formerly  the 
winds  were  still  colder.  That  was  a  few  years  ago, 
when  five  ice  dragons  lived  in  the  Nanshan  cathedral 
spires,  and  breathed  their  frigid  breath  on  the  passers- 
by.  It  was  a  male  fairy  that  reduced  the  number  to 
two.     Surely  an  original  character  in  mythology!     In 


ffi*7Wii  275 

Rotten  wood  cannot  be  carved. 

the  temple  on  the  altar  are  jars  containing  bamboo 
sticks,  on  which  are  cut  Chinese  characters.  Their  use 
is  twofold — to  gather  money  and  to  fool  the  people. 
Drop  ten  cash  in  the  box,  pray  to  the  mud  image,  pull 
out  a  stick.  We  did  not  cast  cash  into  the  box,  we  of- 
fered no  petition  to  the  hideous  mud  figure,  but  we  did 
purchase  of  the  keeper  four  of  the  magic  pieces  of 
wood.  On  two  were  the  words  "Outside  the  skin,"  and 
on  two,  "If  the  baby  has  trouble  consult  No.  25  and  No. 
21."  Not  having  any  baby  we  did  not  stop  to  examine 
the  book  to  find  what  ailed  it. 

But  the  Wushi  Ling  deserves  notice  in  addition  to 
its  holding  the  Great  Wall  up  toward  the  stars.  It  is 
the  watershed  that  separates  the  drainage  areas  of  the 
Hei  Ho  and  the  Yellow  River. 

Black  Dog  evolved  the  following  wise  saying  while 
shivering  in  the  breath  of  the  ice  dragons:  "When  it 
is  cold  every  person  feels  his  own  cold;  but  when  it 
is  hot  the  great  family  is  hot."  Plainly  spoken  the 
statement  intended  by  Black  Dog  would  read,  when  the 
weather  is  cold  some  have  on  warm  clothing  and  feel 
it  not,  but  when  the  atmosphere  is  hot  the  rich  and  poor 
are  equal. 

We  were  proceeding  along  the  great  northwest  road 
which  reaches  from  Lan  to  Kashgar.  Two  other  im- 
portant roads  enter  Lanchow,  one  i>om  Ninghia,  the 
other  from  Sining  and  the  Koko  Nor.  The  population 
from  Liangchow  had  been  sparse,  but  as  we  approached 
the  capital  it  was  denser.  But  the  country  would  be 
better  for  pastoralists  than  for  agriculturalists  like  the 


276  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Chinese.  At  last  we  came  upon  the  white  meteor, 
which  in  reality  is  a  large  white  boulder,  say  fifteen  feet 
in  diameter,  and  unlike  other  stones  or  rocks  above 
ground.  The  surface  is  worn  smooth  by  people  rubbing 
against  it.  A  man  was  taking  off  chips,  and  we  asked 
him  questions,  to  which  he  replied,  "It  is  a  god-stone. 
This  stone  came  from  Kanchow,  not  flying,  but  by 
stages,  traveling  only  at  night.  It  is  very  precious. 
These  chips  will  cure  dyspepsia."  We  asked  the  rustic 
worshiper  of  the  white  stone  if  it  cured  dyspepsia  by 
falling  on  the  patient.  "Grind  up  the  chip  and  swal- 
low it  with  hot  water."  We  did  not  do  it.  This  so- 
called  meteor  when  approached  from  the  southeast 
strongly  resembles  a  white  elephant.  The  Great  Wall 
following  the  crest  of  the  hills  comes  down  to  Kulang 
and  then  returns  to  the  summits  for  thirty  li  until  well 
past  this  white  elephant.  Superstition  played  a  big 
part  when  the  Great  Wall  was  built  and  not  unlikely 
this  magic  boulder  sent  the  masonry  on  detour. 

High  above  the  white  elephant,  perched  in  an  almost 
inaccessible  cleft  of  the  rocks,  is  a  temple  to  twelve 
widows.  One  of  Chin's  great  generals  was  in  the 
region  to  repel  an  attack  by  the  Tibetans  through  a 
near-by  pass,  and  was  about  to  be  captured  by  the  enemy 
when  a  dozen  widows  came  to  his  rescue  and  led  him 
away.  Even  they  lost  their  direction  till  an  antelope 
arriving  on  the  soene  offered  to  be  their  guide.  The 
dozen  widows,  after  this  was  all  over,  went  and  died, 
and  the  temple  commemorates  their  efforts  to  get  a 
man. 

On  arrival  in  Lanchow,  one  of  the  important  cities 


a 


~    •< 


fSjt^flf  277 

Like  father  like  son. 

of  the  "Empire  of  the  Center,"  our  caravan  was  ex- 
tended a  cordial  greeting  by  Messrs.  Andrew  and 
Preedy  and  their  households  of  the  English  mission. 
And  here  we  met  once  again,  after  six  years,  Detective 
Moore,  a  man  of  genius  who  possesses  a  real  scent  for 
criminals  and  who  had  before  him  a  still  more  brilliant 
career  than  his  past,  although  it  was  his  skill  and  integ- 
rity that  caught  the  arch  criminals  of  Shanghai  and  un- 
earthed and  abolished  one  of  the  most  successful  and 
dangerous  gangs  of  robbers  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
coast  of  China.  Moore  has  left  his  fine  career  and 
good  pay  to  become  a  missionary  at  a  salary  far  less 
than  he  was  receiving,  and  infinitely  less  than  he  would 
by  this  time  have  had  at  his  command.  This  fearless, 
heroic  son  of  Anak  will  do  vigorous  work  as  a  propa- 
gandist and  will  have  at  least  one  great  advantage  of 
not  being  fooled  by  the  oriental  duplicity  which  sur- 
rounds every  missionary  worker  in  the  Far  East.  An 
honest  and  exceptionally  brilliant  detective  like  Moore 
might  have  served  his  generation  and  his  Master  in 
that  capacity.  And  yet,  who  can  name  the  future? 
Clough,  the  gifted  engineer,  resigned  his  profession  for 
missionary  work  in  India,  and  when  a  famine  came  sug- 
gested its  arrest.  His  canal  scheme  was  adopted  by 
the  government,  and  saved  thousands  of  lives,  dough's 
friends  called  him  a  fool  for  quitting  engineering  for 
heathen-converting  efforts,  but  the  last  proved  the  first. 
The  decision  to  follow  conscience  was  right. 

But  the  great  detective  was  not  the  only  old  friend 
met  here,  for  John  Gwadey,  as  lively  as  ever,  turned 


278  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

up  with  a  dog  and  a  tale.  The  latter  was  a  story  of  a 
grave  in  the  Great  Wall.  "Sixty  li  toward  sunrise  is 
the  P'inting  shan,  where  Shu  Fan  Wang  and  his  an- 
cestors of  many  generations  lie  buried  in  lucky  spots. 
The  old  men  say  that  in  the  reign  of  Tao  Kuang,  of 
this  present  dynasty,  no  rain  fell  in  all  this  region, 
and  because  of  the  failure  of  the  wheat  and  vegetable 
harvests  people  were  starving.  Clods  of  earth  turned 
into  rats,  men  ate  men,  and  parents  exchanged  their 
children  and  ate  them. 

"In  the  seventh  moon,  man  and  wife,  living  in  the 
P'ingting  Mountains,  were  busy,  in  their  native  village, 
catching  rats  for  food.  While  thus  engaged  a  large 
snake  appeared.  Li,  the  husband,  seized  a  shovel  and 
made  after  the  tasty  morsel,  but  it  escaped  into  a  hole. 
When  the  sun  was  nearly  even  with  the  west,  wearied 
by  the  labors  of  the  day,  they  rested  before  starting 
new  work.  Bemoaning  the  escape  of  the  snake,  they 
were  overjoyed  to  see  its  head  show  up  in  the  scorched 
grass.  With  fresh  vigor  the  two  dug  hard  and  fast 
to  unearth  the  reptile,  but  after  digging  down  six  feet, 
a  stone  door  confronted  them.  It  was  night,  and  they 
rested. 

"Early  in  the  morning,  with  the  assistance  of  neigh- 
bors, and  after  further  excavations,  the  mysterious  door 
was  wrenched  open;  it  disclosed  a  long  arched  passage 
along  which  the  party  passed  cautiously.  After  five 
hundred  paces  they  were  stopped  by  another  and  a 
stronger  stone  door,  on  the  lintel  and  door  posts  of 
which  were  inscriptions,  saying  that  it  opened  into  the 
grave  of  Fan  Ching  Wang.     Having  forced  an  en- 


n  &  &  t§  a  a  279 

An  oppressive  government  is  worse  than  a  fierce  tiger. 

trance  they  found  themselves  in  a  connected  cave  a  li 
long.  When  once  well  in  this  gallery  a  dread  fell  on  the 
party,  their  bodies  became  cold  and  a  hasty  retreat  to 
open  air  resulted.  On  deliberation  they  decided  to 
take  lamps  and  reenter. 

"After  proceeding  over  a  mile  underground  through 
a  carefully  cut  tunnel,  a  well  was  reached;  down  this 
the  party  descended  to  the  bottom  by  stone  stairs  and 
entered  another  uncanny  tunnel,  which  they  followed 
for  two  miles,  till  a  third  stone  door  impeded  farther 
progress.  On  either  side  of  the  portal  were  ancient 
characters.  This  door  also  was  forced  and  admitted  the 
workmen  into  a  cave  excavated  in  the  solid  rock,  meas- 
uring ten  feet  wide,  seven  feet  high  and  extending  for 
more  than  fifty  tens  of  feet.  This  was  a  palace  consist- 
ing of  five  rooms,  without  doors  or  windows.  In  the 
midst  stood  a  table  of  solid  gold  on  which  were  costly 
articles  of  design.  Behind  the  table  stood  a  bedstead 
built  of  precious  stones,  and  on  either  side  of  the  golden 
table  were  three  coffins. 

"Afraid  to  molest  the  caskets  of  the  dead,  the  party 
entered  still  another  cavern  to  the  left  of  the  golden 
table,  wherein  stood  two  iron  carts  curiously  engraved. 
These  also  they  left  as  the  roadway  would  hardly  let 
them  out.  But  on  the  other  side  a  door  led  into  another 
cavern  which  contained  a  trough  of  gold  and  silver 
ingots.  With  a  triumphant  shout  of  joy  that  sounded 
strange  in  that  erstwhile  silent  chamber  of  the  dead, 
each  greedily  helped  himself  to  the  treasure  that  glit- 
tered in  the  light  of  their  torches. 


280  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

"When  the  superior  magistrate  learned  of  the  find 
he  weighed  the  precious  metal  that  was  left,  and  re- 
ported two  hundred  thousand  ounces  of  gold,  a  great 
amount  of  silver,  and  bushels  of  precious  stones.  All 
of  this  by  order  of  the  emperor  was  distributed  in  grain 
to  the  starving  multitudes." 

Gwadey  paused  ofter  this  tale,  meditated,  and  instead 
of  a  mere  hope  that  such  wonders  would  recur,  deliv- 
ered himself  of  the  surprising  opinion:  "The  snake 
led  the  way,  but  was  not  Heaven  directing  it  ?  Strange, 
strange,  this  grave  connected  with  a  stone  gallery  that 
opened  into  the  Great  Wall."  Poor  old  John  Gwadey 
held  firmly  to  the  belief  in  a  kind  Providence.  In  his 
darkened  mind  was  this  ray  of  light.  May  other  rays 
soon  penetrate  there.  The  closing  words  of  "Helen" 
spring  to  mind: 

The  gods  perform  what  least  we  could  expect, 
And  oft  the  things  for  which  we  fondly  hoped 
Come  not  to  pass ;  but  Heaven  still  finds  a  clue 
To  guide  our  steps   through  life's   perplexing  maze, 
And  thus  does  this  important  business  end. 

Fifteen  thousand  families  reside  in  lofty  Lanchow, 
the  capital  of  Kansu,  which  has  a  varying  elevation 
of  four  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  feet.  An  excep- 
tionally large  shifting  population  furnishes  a  difficulty 
for  the  missionaries  who  are  laboring  zealously.  Fort 
Ticonderoga  was  taken  because  the  assailants  directed 
many  impacts  at  the  same  spot  and  addressed  their  iron 
to  a  limited  circle,  but  with  men  here  to-day  and  away 
to-morrow  the  perpetual  hammering  on  one  conscience 


mn?if$  28i 

One  does  not  lose  by  asking  his  way. 

which  is  advisable,  cannot  obtain.  Nevertheless  the 
Christianizing  of  the  Chinese  proceeds  without 
abatement. 

Here  the  ancient  and  modern  are  mixed,  the  supersti- 
tions of  the  past  and  the  progress  of  the  present.  We 
felt  inclined  to  take  a  census  of  the  public  idols  of  the 
city,  and  to  that  end  employed  an  educated  and  reliable 
gentleman,  who,  after  wTeeks  of  work,  furnished  these 
interesting  figures :  Temples  and  ancestral  halls  number 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four,  idol  shrines  ninety-three, 
and  public  idols  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty. 
Out  of  ten  parts  of  land  six  parts  are  given  to  raising 
tobacco!  There  are  twenty-four  government  schools 
and  a  real  effort  is  making  to  modernize  the  education. 
Along  the  forty-two  streets  are  found  letter-boxes,  a 
new  dozen  just  going  up  as  we  passed  by,  and  four 
banks  do  the  exchange  business  of  the  city.  Two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  twenty  public  idols!  There  is 
also  a  sacred  tree  worthy  of  mention,  over  eight  hundred 
years  old,  and  associated  with  Genghis  Khan.  It  is  on 
the  Tsangmen  Kwan  and  has  a  god  living  inside  it. 
Beside  the  tree  is  an  altar,  on  which  incense  is  constantly 
burning.  The  old  man  opened  a  secret  door  and  showed 
the  heart  of  the  tree;  in  the  hollow  was  a  vile-smelling 
liquid.  "This  is  the  life  juice  or  essence  of  the  tree; 
this  tree  will  cure  any  kind  of  a  disease."  All  you  have 
to  do  is  to  go  there,  burn  incense,  knock  your  head  on 
the  ground,  drink  some  of  the  tree  juice,  pay  a  few 
cash,  and  you  are  a  new  man.  Smell  the  juice  and  the 
most  incredulous  will  admit  a  kill  or  a  cure.     Pasted 


282  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

over  the  tree  and  for  yards  at  the  side  are  eight  hundred 
red  placards  of  silk  and  satin  covered  with  characters, 
hung  there  by  the  cured. 

From  the  old  tree  we  went  along  a  main  street  to  the 
new  bridge,  joining  Golden  Hill  to  Lanchow.  The 
American  engineer,  Coltman,1  who  is  in  charge  of  the 
three  hundred  Chinese,  building  a  steel  truss  bridge 
across  the  Yellow  River  to  take  the  place  of  the  world- 
renowned  bridge  of  boats,  is  doing  an  epoch-marking 
piece  of  work.  He  well  knows  how  to  use  a  padded 
crowbar  when  dealing  with  the  Chinese.  For  instance, 
while  putting  down  one  of  the  steel  pneumatic  caissons, 
it  got  under  the  dragon's  tail  and  that  was  the  reason 
why  a  drought  occurred.  This  superstition  did  not, 
however,  impede  the  work,  for  the  viceroy  bade  Colt- 
man  and  Dello  proceed  and  he  himself  would  undertake 
to  look  after  the  dragon's  tail.  The  bridge  contract  calls 
for  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  taels  and  the 
government  will  also  transport  the  materials  from  the 
railroad  to  Lanchow.  The  machine  shop  is  in  the  tem- 
ple of  the  river  god,  and  the  big  city  temple  is  used  for 
storing  the  superstructure.  At  first  it  was  suggested 
that  a  blacksmith's  shop  in  the  City  God  Temple  showed 
irreverence  to  the  spirits  of  the  temple,  but  a  diplomatic 
arrangement  provided  for  the  spirits  and  the  work  has 
proceeded  with  remarkable  agility. 

Here  the  old  and  new  are  side  by  side.  The  old 
bridge  is  composed  of  twent}^-four  wooden  boats  lashed 
to  piles  by  twelve  straw  cables  six  inches  in  diameter, 
and  two  iron  chains  fastened  to  iron  posts.    The  bridge 

'Robert  Coltman,  3rd,  B.  A.,  C.  E. 


nmmw-^mm^       283 

The  stoat  only  bites  the  sick  duck. 

of  boats  is  sixty  years  old  and  must  be  removed  in  the 
winter  and  replaced  in  the  spring.  During  the  winter 
the  ice  is  crossed,  but  when  a  break-up  occurs  a  danger- 
ous ferry  is  used.  The  piers  of  the  new  steel  bridge  go 
down  to  sandstone  and  the  contract  calls  for  the  bridge 
to  be  kept  there  by  the  bridge  company  for  a  hundred 
years,  unless  the  dragon  destroys  it,  when  the  company 
shall  not  be  held  responsible ! 

Here  at  Lanchow  are  two  of  the  wonders  of  the  land, 
the  Yellow  River  and  the  Great  Wall.  The  one  is  a 
marvel  of  nature — a  river  thousands  of  miles  long,  not 
fit  for  navigation,  hardly  for  irrigation,  always  flooding 
the  land,  China's  Sorrow.  The  other  is  a  marvel  of 
science — a  Wall  hundreds  of  miles  long,  not  meant  for 
decoration,  hardly  for  renovation,  always  defending 
the  land,  China's  Bulwark.  Here  they  meet — the  Wall 
at  its  most  southerly  point — and  intersect  one  another. 
Half  the  river  lies  within,  and  half  without  the  massive 
Rampart.  For  centuries  the  incompetence  of  engineers 
or  the  carelessness  of  the  people  or  the  corruption  of 
contractors,  has  allowed  the  river  to  be  a  scourge  to  the 
land ;  for  centuries  the  Wall  has  stood  as  a  token  that  a 
far-seeing  ruler  can  command  competent  engineers  and 
faithful  workers.  When  shall  the  skill  that  built  the 
Wall  be  applied  to  control  the  river?  Here  at  Lanchow 
the  two  compel  a  contrast;  when  shall  the  lesson  from 
the  one  be  applied  to  the  other,  that  the  river  may  de- 
velop as  the  Wall  has  protected  ? 


CHAPTER  XX 

China  before  the  Great  Wall 

Here  we  stand  at  the  southern  point  of  intersection 
of  the  Great  Wall  and  the  Great  River  of  the  North. 

On  one  side  stretch  the  plains  of  Mongolia,  on  the 
other  the  fertile  fields  of  the  laborious  Chinese.  We 
imagine  ourselves  transferred  to  the  epoch  of  the  Builder 
where  we  can  look  backward  and  forward.  Looking 
backward  with  our  eyes  turned  to  the  south  we  behold 
the  rise  of  the  Chinese  Empire  and  the  development  of 
its  culture.  Twenty  centuries  in  the  past  loom  up 
before  us  and  through  their  dim  perspective  we  seem  to 
perceive  a  growing  multitude  moving  forward  under 
four  different  banners.  The  first  bears  on  its  ample 
folds  the  name  Republic  ;  the  second,  the  Throne  ;  and 
the  other  two  likewise  have  the  Throne  emblazoned  as 
the  chief  object  that  strikes  the  vision,  but  each  with  in- 
signia of  its  own.  What  signifies  the  marvelous  device 
of  a  Republic!  Does  it  mean  that  the  people  have  a 
share  in  their  own  government  or  what  peculiar  oriental 
signification  can  it  possess?  A  voice  comes  out  of  the 
past  and  answers  the  question.  It  is  that  of  the  vener- 
able Yao,  "I  live  for  my  people;  the  state  exists  for  their 
benefit."  Such  was  the  theory  during  the  period  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  years  over  which  extend  the  three 
reigns  of  Yao,  Shun  and  Yii.1 

1  Yao's  reign  lasted  one  hundred  and  two  years,  Shun's  fifty,  but  Yii's 
only  eight. 

284 


W**JBA*»&£JlJft      285 

Rain  and  dew  are  mercies,  so  are  ice  and  frost. 

Yao  was  the  father  of  his  people.  When  he  heard 
them  singing  and  boasting  of  their  independence  be- 
cause they  lived  by  their  own  labor  he  rejoiced  to  be 
forgotten!  But  so  far  from  forgetting  them,  he  early 
chose  for  his  successor  a  man  who  would  continue  his 
policy;  and  set  aside  his  own  son,  who  was  imbecile  or 
worthless.  He  did  not  accept  the  new  candidate  with- 
out careful  inquiry  into  his  antecedents.  "What  has  he 
to  recommend  him?"  was  the  question  addressed  to  his 
ministers.  Their  unanimous  reply  was,  "This  young 
man  has  had  a  hard  experience  in  his  own  family,  con- 
stantly persecuted  by  a  cruel  stepmother  (tristis  no- 
verca)t  a  jealous  brother,  and  a  father  not  only  blind 
of  eye  but  still  more  blinded  in  his  heart,  who  made 
himself  an  instrument  of  perpetual  persecution.  Yet 
Shun  bore  it  all  with  unresisting  patience.  Often  was 
he  heard  while  at  work  in  the  fields  to  lift  his  voice  in 
solemn  appeal  to  Heaven,  but  never  did  he  utter  a  mur- 
mur in  the  hearing  of  father  or  mother.  Gradually  both 
parents  and  his  brother,  touched  by  his  affection  and 
dutiful  forbearance,  ceased  from  annoying  him,  and 
soon  after  stood  up  for  him  and  eventually  they  all  be- 
came united  in  one  common  bond  of  affection." 
"Glorious  victory,"  exclaimed  the  old  monarch.  "If  he 
can  do  that  for  all  the  families  of  my  people  he  shall  be 
my  successor.  But  he  has  no  wife  and  children  him- 
self; he  has  shown  his  qualities  as  a  son  and  a  brother, 
he  has  yet  to  be  proved  as  a  husband  and  a  father. 
Here  are  my  two  daughters."  To  increase  the  severity 
of  the  trial  he  was  given  both  of  them  at  once.    So  the 


286  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

young  man  was  taken,  like  Cincinnatus,  from  the  plow1 
as  an  apprentice  to  an  emperor.  Enough  to  say  he 
stood  the  trial  to  the  perfect  satisfaction  of  the  old 
monarch,  and  after  an  apprenticeship  of  twenty-eight 
years,  he  was  adopted  as  the  heir  to  the  throne. 

A  great  flood  occurred  in  the  reign  of  Yao,  B.C.  2297, 
unprecedented  in  the  history  of  China.  The  Yellow 
River  had  become  obstructed  in  its  course.  And  the 
waters  rose  threatening  over  the  plains,  and  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  ancient  book,  "They  climbed  the  sides  of 
the  mountains  and  seemed  to  threaten  heaven  itself." 
Who  shall  deal  with  these  unruly  streams  ?  The  answer 
was,  "Here  is  Kuan,  a  man  of  skill  and  ability."  Kuan 
made  the  trial  without  success,  and  he  was  set  aside. 
Again  the  question  came,  "Who  shall  take  his  place  and 
bear  the  burdens  of  so  huge  a  task?"  The  ministers 
replied,  "Who  but  his  son,  the  energetic  youth?"  Yii's 
efforts  proved  more  successful.  He  spent  nine  years 
in  the  great  task,  during  which  in  his  voyages  from 
north  to  south,  he  three  times  passed  his  own  door  with- 
out entering.  "That,"  said  Shun,  "is  the  man  for  me. 
My  son  has  no  such  talents.  The  throne  shall  descend 
to  the  man  who  saved  the  people  from  the  flood." 

Thus  Yu  became  the  successor  in  the  monarchical 
Republic,  and  nobly  did  he  exercise  his  high  office.  Al- 
ways holding  himself  accessible  to  his  people,  he  sus- 
pended a  bell  at  the  door  of  his  palace,  or  hut  if  you 
choose  to  call  it  so,  and  any  one  who  wished  to  see  him 
could  obtain  an  instant  interview.     Whilst  partaking 

1  Yet  his  father  is  said  to  have  been  a  descendant  of  the  Emperor  Chuan 
Hsu.     Shun  is  one  of  the  twenty-four  examples  of  filial  piety. 


lltwft  287 

Old  ginger  is  the  most  pungent 

of  one  meal,  says  the  Chinese  writer,  he  "would  three 
times  leave  the  table  to  answer  the  questions  of  his  peo- 
ple, and  sometimes  rush  out  of  the  house  with  his  long 
locks  grasped  in  his  hands  without  taking  time  to  comb 
or  braid  them." 

Yii,  the  great  engineer,  the  model  of  diligence,  the 
third  in  the  series  of  self-forgetting  monarchs  who  lived 
only  for  their  people,  became  the  first  who  established 
a  new  type  of  monarchy.  He  transmitted  his  throne  to 
a  worthy  son,  laying  thus  the  foundation  of  a  dynasty 
which  lasted  over  five  hundred  years,  but  with  many 
unworthy  successors.  Its  general  character,  though  not 
one  of  cruel  despotism,  was  that  of  a  master  towards  a 
nation  of  slaves.  Things  went  from  bad  to  worse  until, 
the  condition  of  the  people  becoming  unendurable,  an 
avenger  appeared  on  the  scene  in  the  person  of  Ch'eng 
T'ang;1  a  new  dynasty  was  the  result  which  lasted  for 
a  longer  period.  During  this  period  something  like  a 
feudal  system  began  to  manifest  itself,  great  barons 
exercising  more  or  less  sway  within  their  own  prin- 
cipalities. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  1120  B.C.  that  the  feudal 
idea  took  shape  in  its  fullest  and  most  perfect  form. 
This  was  under  the  famous  dynasty  of  Chou.  It  began 
with  a  Regent2  in  whom  appeared  an  unselfish  ruler  who 
has  become  the   ideal  of   succeeding  regencies,   Chou 

1  "T'ang  the  Completer"  or  "the  Successful." 

2  The  founders  of  the  dynasty  were  Wen  Wang  and  his  son  Wu  Wang. 
It  was  during  the  minority  of  the  latter's  son,  Ch'eng  Wang,  that  Chou 
Kung  (his  uncle)  itcted  as  Regent. 


; 


288  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Kung  the  famous  Duke  of  Chou,  regarded  as  amongs 
the  sages  of  the  Empire. 

The  tenure  of  the  land  during  this  period  was  a 
emblem  of  the  state.  The  fields  were  square,  inter 
sected  by  two  lines  east  and  west  and  two  lines  north 
and  south,  thus  making  nine  divisions;  the  central  sec- 
tion belonged  to  the  state  and  taxes  were  paid  by  cul- 
tivating that  portion  for  the  public  treasury.  So  loyal 
were  the  people  that  they  lifted  their  heads  to  the  rising 
clouds  and  prayed  to  Heaven,  "Send  your  first  showers 
down  on  our  central  plot,  and  then  let  a  few  drops  fall 
on  our  own."  The  Kingdom  was  laid  out  on  the  same 
plan,  the  royal  domain  occupying  the  central  position 
surrounded  by  the  fiefs  of  feudal  barons.  As  Con- 
fucius describes  it,  "Just  as  the  north  star  sits  on  his 
throne  while  all  the  other  stars  revolve  around  it."  The 
well-known  name  of  Middle  Kingdom  for  the  empire 
of  China,  which  should  be  Central  Kingdom,  is  derived 
from  this  source.  In  this  designation  there  is  no  allu- 
sion to  the  supposed  map  of  the  earth  but  only  to  the 
distribution  of  the  feudal  states  with  reference  to  the 
central  throne.  Another  early  name  for  China  is  Chung- 
yiian,  "Central  Plain,"  which  apparently  refers  to  the 
great  fertile  plain  of  Honan. 

Confucius,  on  another  occasion,  expressed  his  enrap- 
tured admiration  for  the  feudal  system  in  language  no 
less  emphatic.  Speaking  of  the  development  of  the 
previous  dynasties,  when  asked  what  will  be  the  form  of 
government  in  coming  generations  he  replied,  "For  a 
hundred  generations  to  come  the  form  can  be  no  other 
than  the  present."    Yet  this  was  one  of  the  wise  man's 


A  &  *  *•  W  *  *'  ■*  «'•■  289 

Men  do  not  live  a  hundred  years,  yet  harbour  the 
griefs  of  a  thousand. 

limitations.  For  to  our  wider  view  it  is  apparent  that 
a  feudal  government  is  necessarily  unstable.  During 
the  latter  part  of  the  long  tenure  of  the  Chous,  the 
Central  Monarch  lost  control  of  his  unruly  princes,  be- 
coming merely  a  figurehead  clothed  with  priestly  func- 
tions, and  loudly  complaining  that  the  barons  had 
ceased  to  consult  him  except  when  a  sacrifice  to  heaven 
became  necessary.  Under  these  circumstances  wars 
and  conflicts  between  the  several  states  became  inevit- 
able, and  for  two  centuries  internecine  strife  was  the 
prevailing  characteristic  of  the  times,  which  were  hap- 
pily terminated  by  the  system  of  consolidation  intro- 
duced by  the  builder  of  the  Great  Wall. 

It  was  during  the  third  dynasty  that  the  Chinese 
mind  began  to  exhibit  its  greatest  intellectual  activity. 
As  we  look  back  again  through  the  mist  of  ages  three 
venerable  figures  emerge  from  the  darkness,  those  of 
Lao  Tzti,  Confucius,  and  Mencius.  The  first  was 
founder  of  the  Taoist  system  which  has  exerted  an 
immense  influence  on  the  condition  of  China  past  and 
present.  The  second  was  author  of  China's  ethical  sys- 
tem, embracing  the  individual,  the  family,  and  the  state. 
The  third  was  renovator  and  apostle  of  the  teachings  of 
his  great  master  Confucius. 

Lao  Tzu  signifies  "the  Old  Master,"  so  called  because 
he  was  the  senior  of  Confucius  and  because  Confucius 
sought  light  and  knowledge  from  him.1     His  specula- 

1  When    Lao    Tzii    died,    Confucius    was    still    a    young    and    practically 
unknown  man.     The  alleged  meeting   of  the  two   philosophers,   as   told  in 
the  Historical  Record,  carries  no  conviction  and  is  almost  certainly  a  later 
invention. 
19 


290  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

tions  were,  however,  too  wild  and  fanciful  to  suit  the 
taste  of  a  practical  mind  like  that  of  Confucius,  and 
seemed  to  have  had  no  influence  whatever  in  giving 
shape  to  the  doctrines  of  the  latter.  The  doctrines  of 
the  Tao  Te  Ching  which  go  by  his  name  are  higher, 
purer  and  more  idealistic  than  the  so-called  Taoist  re- 
ligion. The  central  idea  of  later  Taoism  is  the  acqui- 
sition of  such  a  power  over  material  nature  as  to  enable 
man  to  transform  the  elements  at  will,  and  to  become 
transformed  himself  into  an  immortal;  it  soon  degen- 
erated into  a  mass  of  jugglery  and  fraud.  Perhaps  the 
noble  conceptions  of  Lao  Tzu  may  be  grasped  and 
resuscitated  under  the  influence  of  Christianity  and  true 
science.  Among  the  followers  of  the  Taoist  sect  the 
control  of  the  elements  was  directed  toward  alchemy, 
the  literal  making  of  gold!  In  these  researches  their 
aspirations  for  personal  immortality  led  them  to  turn 
their  backs  on  human  society,  and  resort  to  ascetic  dis- 
cipline as  well  as  to  occult  artifices  and  jugglery.  A 
Chinese  poet  well  describes  their  spirit  and  aim  in  words 
like  these: 

"A    prince   the   draught    immortal   went   to    seek 
And  finding  it  he  soared  above  the  spheres. 

In  mountain  caverns  he  had  spent  a  week: 
Of  human  time  it  was  a  thousand  years." 

Sorcery  and  witchcraft  naturally  became  engrafted  in 
a  stock  so  congenial  to  their  spirits.  The  Taoist  sect 
have  consequently  had  through  all  these  ages  a  mo- 
nopoly in  the  way  of  incantations  and  theurgy.  The 
demon  world  is  regarded  as  subject  to  their  control. 


m  &  %  m  m  m  &  m  a  m      291 

Where  no  money  is  spent  there  no  grace  is  gained. 

They  have  a  high  priest  who  dwells  in  a  kingly  palace 
on  the  top  of  a  mountain  in  Kiangsi ;  he  professes  to  be 
able  on  any  complaint  from  any  part  of  the  empire, 
even  though  it  should  come  from  the  extremity  of  the 
Great  Wall,  to  capture  an  unruly  demon  and  hold  him 
prisoner.  All  this,  be  it  understood,  for  a  fee,  which 
realizes  the  Taoist  idea  of  making  gold ! 

Less  imaginative  and  more  thoroughly  constructive1 
in  the  cast  of  his  mind,  Confucius  from  his  early  years 
set  his  heart  on  the  regeneration  of  human  society.  This 
he  sought  to  effect  by  securing  the  patronage  of  the 
feudal  princes  of  his  day.  The  Duke  of  Lu,  his  own 
native  state,  employed  the  wise  man  to  recast  his  admin- 
istration. Things  ran  smoothly  for  three  months  when 
a  neighboring  prince,  as  Chinese  authors  say,  for  the 
very  purpose  of  counteracting  his  influence  sent  to  the 
prince  a  bevy  of  dancing  girls.  The  philosopher  was 
thrown  into  the  shade  and  in  disgust  he  threw  up  his 
commission  and  sought  the  patronage  of  other  princes. 
Happily  for  posterity  not  one  among  the  princes  of 
the  empire  was  willing  to  listen  to  him.  Under  these 
circumstances  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  work  of  teach- 
ing,  editing   and   composing   those   text-books2    which 

xNot  so  in  one  sense.  Confucius  truly  said  of  himself:  "My  function 
is  to  indicate  rather  than  to  originate."  And  again:  "I  am  but  one  who 
loves   antiquity   and   is   earnest   in   the   study  of  it." 

2  His  sayings,  known  as  the  Confucian  Analects,  in  which  his  ethical 
system  is  set  forth,  were  not  written  down  until  a  generation  or  two  after 
his  death.  He  edited  some  of  the  classics — the  Book  of  Changes,  the  Book 
of  Poetry,  and  perhaps  the  Book  of  History, — but  the  only  work  actually 
composed  by  him  is  the  Ch'un  ch'in,  Spring  and  Autumn  Annals  of  the 
Lu  state,  a  very  dry  record  of  the  barest  facts. 


292  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

have  rendered  his  name  immortal  and  his  influence  pro- 
found. The  purest  system  of  non-Christian  ethics  that 
the  world  has  seen,  they  exhibit  no  feature  of  striking 
originality.  Human  relations  are  set  forth  generally 
in  their  true  character  with  the  advantage  of  combin- 
ing the  conciseness  of  proverbial  philosophy  with  the 
literary  finish  of  an  elegant  writer.  The  doctrines  have 
accordingly  been  treasured  in  the  memories  of  the  youth 
in  schools  for  seventy  generations.  Confucius  showed 
himself  deeply  conscious  of  responsibility  to  God,  whom 
he  called  Heaven.  But  he  inculcated  no  system  of  re- 
ligion. It  is  an  error  to  speak  of  "the  Confucian 
religion,"  as  he  confined  his  teachings  solely  to  the  duties 
of  the  present  life.  It  was  in  consequence  of  the 
vacancy  left  by  the  omission  of  any  religious  element, 
that  Buddhism  succeeded  so  easily  in  finding  a  footing 
in  China. 

Mencius,  more  fortunate  than  his  great  master  who 
had  lived  nearly  two  hundred  years  earlier,  was  wel- 
come at  the  courts  of  princes.  He  propagated  his 
doctrine  with  courage  and  with  eloquence,  upholding 
everywhere  the  principle  that  "honesty  is  the  best 
policy"  and  that  unselfish  virtue  has  its  own  reward. 
One  cannot  refrain  from  heaving  a  sigh  that  the  thou- 
sands of  scholars  who  repeat  his  words  by  rote  have  no 
conception  of  his  spirit.  Among  the  mandarins  of  China 
some  have  learned  his  great  lesson  that  "honesty  is  the 
best  policy." 

Appreciating  the  excellence  of  the  teachings  of  the 
Confucian  school,  we  regret  that  they  have  never  been 
able  to  penetrate  the  mind  of  China  thoroughly,  or  to 


Qtttfmfo&mwfWfmn     293 

Do  no  wrong  by  day  and  you  will  fear  no  demon 
knocking  at  your  door  by  night. 

effect  the  regeneration  of  which  their  authors  dreamed. 
The  builder  of  the  Great  Wall  and  his  masterly  minister 
looked  upon  them  as  positively  mischievous.  Did  they 
not  consecrate  feudal  misgovernment  as  the  ne  plus  ultra 
of  human  wisdom  and  would  it  not  be  impossible  to  wipe 
out  that  objectionable  system  as  long  as  these  books 
maintained  their  supremacy  in  the  schools  of  China? 
Hence  the  burning  of  the  books  and  the  slaughter  of  the 
scholars.  And  never  since  have  those  teachings  regained 
their  influence.  Chin  performed  a  service  for  his  nation 
which  in  the  age  of  modern  scholarship,  now  just  dawn- 
ing, will  be  appreciated. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

The  Three  Chins 

Don't  adjust  your  shoes  in  a  melon  patch, 
Or  straighten  your  hat  under  a  plum  tree. 

Chinese  Proverb. 

Our  design  to  visit  Chinchow  was  prospered  beyond 
the  expectation  of  the  most  hopeful.  The  journey  from 
Lanchow  ran  through  a  brigand-infested  region,  but 
we  saw  none;  the  days  were  rainy,  but  we  were  not 
bogged ;  the  loess  landscapes  were  lively,  but  except  for 
a  muleteer  falling  and  several  mules  slipping,  no  acci- 
dent occurred. 

The  muleteers  were  of  exceptional  merit,  or  were  in 
an  exceptionally  good  mood  owing  to  a  vigorous  lec- 
ture. As  a  rule,  missionaries  are  worse  treated  here 
than  other  travelers.  On  the  principle  that  "a  gentle 
horse  is  easy  to  ride;  an  honest  man  easy  to  cheat,"  the 
very  kindness  and  long-suffering  of  the  missionary 
causes  him  to  be  imposed  upon.  But  as  true  kindness 
does  not  consist  in  letting  every  man  do  as  he  likes,  the 
wise  Preedy  of  Lanchow  gave  these  men  a  manly  talk; 
then  there  was  no  need  for  correction,  nor  even  of  a 
word  of  punishment  from  me  all  the  way. 

Mules  appear  to  be  reverenced  here.  We  passed 
a  temple  where  a  Golden  Mule  used  to  be  on  exhibit ;  but 
a  foreigner  visited  it,  and  no  one  since  has  beheld  the 

294 


tf  I  ffi  Vj  E  295 

Slow  work  makes  a  skilled  workman. 

Golden  Mule,  while  the  good  luck  of  the  valleys  dis- 
appeared also. 

Three  places  bear  the  name  of  the  Great  Emperor: 
Chinan,  Chinchia  Tsui,  Chinchow;  two  of  these  we 
visited.1  We  hunted  for  the  ancestral  home  of  the 
Chins,  and  also  for  any  surviving  relations  of  the  hero. 
This  expedition  led  us  over  seven  mountains  where, 
despite  some  "starved  ignoble  nature,"  most  things 
seemed  to  have  no  hard  struggle  for  life.  Trees  might 
be  scarce  and  stunted,  but  the  farms  indicated  industry, 
thrift  and  bounteous  harvests.  The  peculiar  landscape 
of  the  loess  suggested  a  land  of  amphitheaters,  one  be- 
ing large  enough  to  seat  the  whole  ten  millions  of 
Kansu. 

At  Chinchia  Tsui,  some  twenty  li  north  of  Chinan, 
dwell  many  families  named  Chin;  some  "make  the 
fields,"  some  are  scholars.  Within  the  four  square 
walls  of  Chinan  dwell  one  thousand  families  and  nearly 
as  many  more  in  the  suburbs.  Some  are  descendants  of 
Chin.  A  leading  clothier  of  this  kin  was  invited  to  call 
on  us  at  the  Inn  of  Perpetual  Peace,  but  he  hesitated 
and  finally  stayed  away. 

The  conduct  of  Adam,  as  reported  in  the  region 
where  we  are  now  writing,  is  worthy  of  loud  and  long 
applause. 

The  ancestors  of  Chin  were  rich  and  his  descendants 
are  prosperous.  That  they  have  held  their  position  in 
the  social  and  political  world  so  well  speaks  for  the 
ability  transmitted  to  them  and  by  them  improved  for 

JThe  imperial  post  spelling  is  Tsinan,  Tsinkia  Tsui,  Tsinchow,  Kan. 


296  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

"the  descendants  of  an  emperor  sink  a  degree  in  the 
social  scale  in  every  generation,  until  they  reach  the 
rank  of  the  common  people." 

Black  Dog  has  described  the  journey  to  Chinan  and 
to  my  surprise  has  made  exceptional  advancement  in 
exact  and  valuable  observation  as  the  following  extract 
will  testify: 

"This  day  was  truly  bitter.  The  heavens  fell  rain  one 
day  and  did  not  cease.  A  cold  wind  blew  until  our  bones 
were  numb  and  sour!  The  road  was  muddy  and  the  hills 
steep.  Once,  not  watch  feet,  it  meant  a  summersault, 
enough  to  make  one  laugh. 

"When  we  reached  Chinan  I  walked  in  the  street.  Speak- 
ing of  men  they  were  not  dirty,  speaking  of  houses  they 
were  clean. 

"The  five  grains  that  were  being  cultivated  in  the  fields 
were  all  complete.  The  fruit-wood  was  all  very  liberal. 
The  men  were  correct  and  the  land  rich.  This  is  the  kind 
of  place  of  which  it  might  be  said,  'the  country  is  peaceful 
and  the  people  at  rest.' 

"On  the  new  books  of  Chinan  from  the  eighteenth  year 
of  Tao  Kuang  to  the  present  there  were  doors,  i.e.  families, 
1,395.  There  were  mouths,  18,523.  Inc.  public  and  pri- 
vate land,  88,532  acres.  Paid  Summer  taxes  each  year, 
26,015  bushels;  paid  Fall  taxes,  28,182  and  more  bushels; 
straw,  4,766  bundles ;  mulberry  trees,  2,679.  Duties  on 
iron,  2,000  catties ;  on  copper,  67  catties ;  tin,  45  catties ; 
lead,  50  catties ;  beeswax,  80  catties ;  madder,  40  catties ; 
white  powder,  5  catties ;  red  coloring,  3  catties ;  2  oz.  red 
tassels,  70  catties ;  goatskins,  40  pieces ;  goat  horns,  70 
catties;  deer  skins,  90  pieces;  cow  horns,  5^/2  catties ;  glue, 
130  catties;  sheep,  35  ;  silver,  130  ounces.  All  these  were 
sent  to  the  Board  of  Revenue  and  Ceremonies,  Peking.  But 
there  were  5  fur  garments  sent  to  the  Provincial  Treasurer. 


m  j-  - 1  tfe  j®  -  w 

A  word  is  enough  for  a  wise  man,  and  a  flick  of  the 
■whip  for  a  fleet  horse. 


297 


"The  productions  are  corn,  millet,  wheat,  hemp,  buck- 
wheat, mustard,  celery  and  other  cereals  and  vegetables. 
Near  the  city  watermelons  grow.  Flowers — tulip,  peony, 
cinnamon,  solid  bamboo,  chrysanthemum,  many  grasses 
and  medicines,  ten  and  more  fruits,  many  birds  and  animals, 
panthers,  wolf,  deer,  fox,  hare,  etc." 

That  the  first  man  made  his  first  appearance  near 
Chinchow  in  the  Valley  of  Red  Peppers  is  strongly 
held  by  the  populace.  Now  it  fortunately  fell  to  the 
lot  of  our  caravan  to  pass  through  the  Hot  Valley  en 


Dragon  body,  man's  head.   Drum  in  the  Stomach.    Thunder  strikes  extravagant 
persons,  hence  a  coolie  will  not  step  on  a  grain  of  rice. 

route  from  Chinan  to  Chinchow.  Located  thirty  li 
from  the  latter  city,  and  known  locally  as  the  Valley  of 
the  Three  Lights,  by  us  remembered  as  the  Vale  of  Red 


298  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Peppers,  is  the  celebrated  temple  built  in  honor  of  Fu 
Hsi,  "the  first  ruler  of  Chinese  legendary  history.  The 
period  commonly  assigned  to  the  beginning  of  his  reign 
is  B.C.  2852.  He  instructed  the  people  in  the  arts  of 
hunting,  fishing  and  pasturage.  He  invented  the  eight 
diagrams,  established  the  laws  of  marriage,  and  con- 
structed musical  instruments."  Let  this  be  fiction, 
nevertheless  the  story  is  here  unconsciously  told  of  the 
secret  of  China's  everlasting  life. 

The  Great  Wall  was  built  by  an  endless  race.  But 
why  endless?  The  black-robed  Chin  "established  the 
laws  of  marriage."  And  then  made  organs.  The 
establishing  of  the  family  life  was  the  beginning  of  the 
nation's  eternal  life!  The  history  goes  on  to  say:  "In 
that  golden  age  the  rulers  needed  but  to  be  expert  in 
the  use  of  the  instruments  to  assure  peace  and  perfect 
harmony  in  every  part."  Crime  was  then  unknown, 
locks  and  bars  were  unnecessary,  travelers  slept  by  the 
wayside  as  securely  as  at  home,  not  even  taking  the  pre- 
caution of  covering  their  purses.  Such  is  the  power  of 
harmony!  The  exalting  of  the  family  idea  must  ac- 
count largely  for  the  continued  existence  of  this  vast 
empire.  It  is  easily  seen  that  present  peoples  who 
slight  the  family  life  are  fast  becoming  extinct! 

The  local  name  of  Fu  Hsi  is  "Ancestor  of  Mankind." 
His  image  is  attired  in  a  skirt  of  fig  leaves.  His  wife 
is  believed  to  be  hiding  in  a  cave  near  by,  dissatisfied 
with  the  fig-leaf  skirt!  This  temple  is  held  to  contain 
the  original  of  the  Eight  Diagrams.  No  one  has  ever 
fully  explained  them  and  the  persons  who  have  tried  to 
do  so  get  as  far  as  saying :  "The  explanation  of  the  whole 


*  it  ffi  *  m  5C  *  299 

The  biggest  hand  cannot  hide  the  heavens. 

thing  is,"  when  the  words  freeze  on  their  lips  and  they 
sink  down  dead! 

Through  the  Valley  of  the  Three  Lights  flow  two 
rivers.  On  the  soft  mud  between  these  rivers  the  first 
man  is  said  to  have  experimented  in  making  the  com- 
plicated ideographs  of  the  Chinese.  This  is  where  the 
puzzling  characters  began  and  since  that  no  one  man 
has  ever  learned  all  about  them. 

A  "rain  of  grain"  occurred  when  the  characters  were 
traced  in  the  mud  of  Red  Pepper  Valley  and  the  demons 
ran  away.  It  does  not  stand  alone  in  the  royal  records 
of  the  celestials.  But  this  was  no  doubt  responsible  for 
the  sarcastic  promise  of  The  Only  First  when  in  speak- 
ing to  Tah,  son  of  Prince  Hsi,  detained  as  hostage  in 
the  state  of  Ch'in,  the  First  Emperor  promised  to 
release  him  when  it  rained  grain,  when  crows  had  white 
heads,  and  when  horses  had  horns  ...  all  of  which  the 
historian  says  came  to  pass ;  according  to  the  royal  word 
he  was  released.  Later  there  is  a  rain  of  cash  reported. 
One  Hsiung  Kun,  censor,  lost  his  wealth;  reduced  to 
poverty,  he  prayed  for  rain  of  cash,  which  fell  for  three 
days  and  enabled  him  to  provide  decent  burial  for  his 
father.  More  credible  is  the  rain  of  hail  in  the  days  of 
Fei  Tsz,  the  horse  breeder  of  Chin,  when  cattle  and 
horses  were  slain  and  the  Yangtze  was  frozen. 

Near  the  bank  of  the  larger  river  in  whose  mud  were 
the  characters,  and  at  the  foot  of  Temple  Hill,  is  a 
smooth  stone  with  two  grooves  made  by  the  Chinese  Eve 
when  washing  her  husband's  clothes.  This  shows  that  fig 
leaves  were  not  the  only  attire;  and  indeed  one  legend 


300  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

tells  that  the  Chinese  Adam  confined  himself  to  them 
in  order  that  others  might  have  the  right  to  wear  clothes 
• — a  sort  of  vicarious  suffering.  There  is,  however,  an 
alternative  reason  assigned  for  this  scant  attire,  that  he 
lost  all  his  clothes  in  the  flood!  What  an  historical  lo- 
cality !  the  first  organ  factory ;  the  first  writing ;  the  first 
Eight  Diagrams;  the  first  farming;  the  first  marriage; 
The  Only  First!  This  is  astonishingly  romantic  and 
ancient. 

At  the  foot  of  the  Hill  of  Eight  Diagrams  stands  a 
small  native  Christian  church  built  and  supported 
wholly  by  native  money.  The  leader  of  this  Christian 
community  is  a  well-to-do  doctor  who  is  plotting  to  di- 
vert the  funds  expended  on  a  theater  in  honor  of  Adam 
to  the  opening  of  a  public  school  for  the  benefit  of  the 
villagers. 

From  the  days  of  the  First  Chin  this  region  has  been 
a  hotbed  of  superstition.  Strange  tales  are  told  of 
demon  possession.  One  of  these  is  vouched  for  by  the 
English  missionaries  at  Chinchow,  who  assert  that  this 
sort  of  demoniacal  display  came  only  after  the  arrival 
of  gospel  teachers.  The  whole  affair  is  so  uncanny  and 
unusual  that  we  venture  to  put  one  instance  thus  on 
record,  all  the  information  coming  from  unquestioned 
sources,  and  no  comment  of  our  own  being  added. 

"One  moon  ago  the  doctor  was  called  to  see  an  old 
man  of  seventy-five,  who  developed  signs  of  demon 
possession  during  the  night:  For  a  long  period  the 
patient  stood  on  his  head  on  the  hong,  with  his  feet  up 
the  wall,  stretched  to  their  utmost  length.  He  had  al- 
ways been  a  respectable  gentleman.    The  doctor  arrived 


mn*ti&nxm        301 

When  the  flight  is  not  high  the  fall  is  not  heavy 

and  preached  to  the  bystanders  and  then  told  the  old 
man's  son  that  if  he  would  kneel  down  he  would  pray 
for  the  patient.  This  done,  the  demon  was  commanded 
to  leave  the  patient.  The  victim  now  lay  on  the  brick 
bed  with  arms  tossing  and  eyes  rolling  wildly  and  said: 
"I  am  going  to  fight  a  battle  with  you  to-day!"  This 
excited  Dr.  Footstep,  who  shouted:  "Fight  with  me  if 
you  dare.  The  Lord  conquered  you  on  the  cross,  and 
will  now."  Then  placing  the  patient  in  a  sitting  pos- 
ture, a  great  fear  came  over  the  physician,  wrho  called: 
"Lord,  help!  Help!"  Whereupon  the  fear  left  him 
and  the  old  man  turned  and  said:  "When  is  Jesus  com- 
ing?" The  doctor  replied:  "I  do  not  know,  but  when 
He  does  He  will  bind  you  and  fling  you  into  the  bottom- 
less pit."  The  reply  was,  "I  know  it."  But  the  old 
man  did  not  know  it.  He  knew  nothing  about  the 
Lord  Jesus  coming  to  earth  again.  The  doctor  then 
commanded  the  demons  in  the  name  of  Him  who  died 
on  the  cross  to  be  gone.  And  they  went,  leaving  the 
patient  frightfully  weak." 

We  reluctantly  left  the  Valley  of  Red  Peppers  and 
went  into  the  city  of  Chinchow,  whose  origin  was  on 
this  wise.  People  condemned  for  picking  turnips  that 
did  not  belong  to  them  were  sent  there  from  Nanking 
to  repeople  the  region  which  had  lost  its  population  and 
in  the  meantime  had  become  a  vast  forest.  In  remote 
ages  a  dense  population  seems  to  have  inhabited  this 
country,  and  many  great  battles  have  been  fought  in 
the  neighborhood.  It  seems  certain  that  western  China 
had  a  highly  developed  civilization  when  there  was  in- 


302  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

tellectual  darkness  farther  east  in  Asia.  The  city  has 
been  variously  named  by  the  different  ages.  It  was 
known  as  "Heavenly  Water"  and  then  in  the  Han 
dynasty,  as  "The  Imperial  City,"  when  it  was  the  capital 
of  the  Duke  of  Wei,  the  Little  Duke.  The  original 
name  of  Chin  was  dropped  by  the  influence  of  the  lit- 
erati after  Chin  burned  the  books  and  buried  alive 
the  scholars. 

Like  many  eastern  cities,  this  has  been  rebuilt  more 
than  once  on  rather  different  sites.  To  begin  with,  the 
prognosticator  fixed  on  a  lucky  spot  thirty  li  from  the 
present  town.  A  sheep  was  sacrificed,  its  head  placed 
on  a  flag-staff  to  mark  the  site,  and  building  operations 
were  begun.  But  perhaps  some  one  was  disappointed 
at  finding  no  unearned  increment  accrue  to  his  lord; 
anyhow,  one  morning  the  flag-staff  was  not  to  be  seen. 
On  search  it  was  discovered  ten  miles  up  the  valley,  and 
the  omen  was  accepted  that  they  must  follow  the  flag. 

The  ancient  site,  or  village  of  Ch'en,  is  supposed  to 
be  the  ancestral  home  of  the  Chins.  But  one  night  a 
flying  hill  came  on  a  visit,  and  effectually  blotted  out 
the  whole  village.  This  tale  may  be  a  vivid  account  of 
a  real  earthquake;  but  the  old  village  is  as  effectually 
obsolete  as  Sodom. 

The  Imperial  City  would  give  more  trouble  to  get  rid 
of  in  this  way ;  it  was  on  a  hill,  northeast  of  the  present 
town.  The  moderns  still  quarry  in  the  ruins  and  dig  up 
pottery  or  old  iron;  one  old  Christian  excavated  a  bar  of 
iron  which  he  threw  under  a  corn  bin,  but  noticing  a 
glow  he  hauled  it  out  and  scraped  it;  it  proved  to  be 
gold. 


—  a  m  &  sr  ±  m  &        303 

When  two  men's  minds  shall  agree,  common  earth 
will  golden  be. 

The  present  city  is  an  agglomeration  of  five,  each 
complete  with  its  walls  and  gates,  so  that  the  general 
ground  plan  is  of  a  boat  with  a  rowlock  projecting  on 
either  side.  Ten  li  to  the  west  dwell  the  descendants  of 
the  miller  who  ground  flour  for  the  founders;  by  im- 
perial decree  they  pay  no  taxes.  This  is  fortunate,  as 
the  children  here  have  a  strange  appetite  for  other  food, 
the  Po  hsi  or  white  earth  from  the  flying  hill  or  the 
sliding  mountain.  The  Chinchow  children  nibble  the 
window-sills  on  which  they  lean,  and  the  beds  on  which 
they  sleep.  As  one  young  lady  says:  "I  cannot  stop  eat- 
ing it."  Some  develop  a  taste  for  ashes  or  charcoal;  the 
indulgence  in  or  the  craving  for  the  earth  turns  them 
an  earthy  color,  till  they  die.  If  the  children  have  one 
morbid  custom,  the  parents  have  another.  They  con- 
sider it  an  insult  to  Mother  Earth  to  bury  a  child  under 
two  years  of  age;  so  the  frail  little  body  is  consigned 
to  the  fire  in  the  hong,  and  serves  to  warm  the  brick  bed 
on  which  the  family  sleeps. 

Black  Dog's  diary  on  Chinchow  says: 

"I  read  a  day  (i.e.  kept  the  Sabbath)  then  on  the  eigh- 
teenth sun  of  the  ninth  moon  we  took  up  our  bodies,  arose 
on  the  road,  and  arrived  at  Chinchow  before  the  sun  was 
even  with  the  west.  Chinchow  may  be  considered  a  place 
with  an  ancient  name.  It  was  said  that  this  place  has 
six  sights.  In  the  ancient  times  it  was  a  place  with  a  name ; 
to-day  it  also  is  a  place  with  a  name.  We  saw  the  land-earth 
wealthy  and  thick,  the  inhabitants  careful,  the  mountain 
water  nourishing  the  land,  perpetually  having  power.  On 
the  day  of  our  arrival  this  place  was  repairing  the  Wall 
and  erecting  the  T'ai  Shan  Temple;  truly  a  beauty  of  oil 


304  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

painting,  a  sight  worth  seeing.  The  head  of  the  managers 
had  in  his  bosom  the  subscription  book!  Every  door  and 
every  shop  must  subscribe.  On  it  was  written  'Ten  thousand 
good  deeds  gather  together  here.' 

"We  see  that  the  men  who  worship  the  idol-gods  do  not 
offer  money  to  repair  temples  out  of  a  good  intention.  It 
is  not  more  than  asking  by  force  and  carelessly  giving. 
Alas !  contributing  money  and  erecting  temples  is  no  more 
than  wasting  substance  and  in  vain  occupying  a  piece  of 
good  ground. 

"Again  strolling  at  the  Gemmy  Fountain  Temple  I  saw 
above  it  a  large  writing  saying  'The  Gate  of  Heaven.'  On 
the  street  there  were  many  persimmons,  walnuts,  cotton 
goods,  pears  and  such  things." 

Many  legends  declaring  emphatically  that  large 
numbers  of  men  were  buried  in  the  Great  Wall  have 
led  us  here  in  the  ancestral  home  of  the  builder  to  make 
inquiries.  That  a  wide-spread  custom  of  the  sort  pre- 
vailed at  certain  periods  in  remote  ages  is  unquestioned. 
The  Fijians,  Dyaks,  Indians,  Aztecs,  and  Africans 
practise  similar  sacrificial  rites.  The  reason  was  never 
far  to  find,  to  propitiate  evil  spirits  and  to  attract  good 
luck,  as  well  as  to  inaugurate  the  victim  into  the  mys- 
teries of  a  spirit  policeman!  "In  his  days  did  Hiel  the 
Bethelite  build  Jericho:  he  laid  the  foundation  thereof 
in  (on  or  upon)  his  first-born."  "In  the  German  exca- 
vation at  Megiddo  there  was  found  under  a  tower  the 
skeleton  of  a  young  girl  deposited  in  such  a  way  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  that  it  was  essentially  connected  with  the 
foundation  of  the  building.  We  cannot  take  seriously, 
however,  the  Chinchow  legend,  which  relates  with  every 
horror  of  detail  the  story  of  how  the  taskmasters  put 


*  $&  ^  m  m  i*  m         305 

Water  may  run  in  a  thousand  channels,  but  all  returns 
to  the  sea. 

lime  into  the  food  of  the  workmen  to  induce  less  eat- 
ing and  finally,  death,  in  order  that  their  bodies  might 
be  thrown  into  the  Wall  to  appease  the  general  and  local 
gods,  including  the  whole  host  of  evil  spirits  which 
might  be  expected  to  attend  in  unheard-of  numbers 
when  a  fabric  so  vast  was  being  erected,  to  prevent  their 
coming  out  of  the  north  to  feed  and  fatten  their  un- 
earthly presences  on  the  souls  south  of  the  boundary 
line.  Superstition  played  a  great  part  in  the  making  of 
the  Northern  Rampart,  for  the  Wall  mysteriously 
mounts  to  the  loftiest  summits,  dives  into  the  deepest 
ravines,  twists  and  squirms  in  such  an  altogether  unnec- 
essary fashion,  that  we  have  been  put  to  our  wits'  end 
to  explain  the  performance. 

Had  the  military  engineers  of  that  warlike  day  alone 
designed  a  stable  and  effective  fortification  in  the  north 
to  resist  assaults  of  hardy  horsemen,  then  certainly 
many  towers  and  connecting  walls  on  wholly  inacces- 
sible precipices  would  have  been  omitted, — unless  those 
ancient  warriors  were  familiar  with  the  fall  of  Sardis 
and  similar  military  feats.  We  must  seek  beyond  the 
plans  of  army  experts  for  the  reasons  that  brought  this 
strange,  stalwart  "titanic  fence"  into  evidence  in  a 
fenceless  land.  We  have  confirmed  our  opinion  that 
"Wise  Men"  ordered  the  curves  and  contortions  of  the 
Wall  of  Chin.  They  doubtless  consulted  constellations, 
skulls,  and  a  score  of  uncanny  divining  devices.  Indeed, 
should  the  history  of  the  devil  be  written  it  would  likely 
contain  a  highly  surprising  and  interesting  chapter  on 
the  Great  Wall. 

20 


CHAPTER  XXII 

Medieval    China:    since    Chins    Great    Wall    to    the 
Present  Dynasty 

By  medieval  we  mean  the  period  extending  from  the 
dynasty  of  Chin,  who  created  China,  to  the  accession  of 
the  Manchus  who  conquered  it.  From  a  Chinese  point 
of  view  it  is  all  comprehended  in  "modern  history,"  the 
Great  Wall  being  the  dividing  line  in  chronology  as  it 
is  in  geography.  A  marked  change  took  place  in  the 
leading  aspects  of  Chinese  life,  no  less  than  in  the  sys- 
tem of  government.  The  scepter  fell  from  the  nerve- 
less hand  of  Chin  Erh  Shih,  the  son  of  the  tyrant; 
even  had  he  possessed  the  talents  of  his  father,  they 
would  not  have  served  to  prolong  his  reign.  An  irri- 
tated and  vengeful  populace  rose  in  all  the  provinces  to 
expel  a  government  under  which  they  had  suffered 
untold  miseries.  Many  chiefs  fought  for  power,  no 
one  distinctly  aiming  at  the  throne.  At  length  Liu  Pang 
of  P'ei  (in  modern  Kiangsu)  made  himself  conspicuous 
and  sought  the  reins  of  empire.  He  was  almost  wholly 
illiterate,  but  a  man  of  native  genius,  capable  of  broad 
views,  possessed  of  indomitable  perseverance,  heroic 
courage,  and  withal,  a  great  share  of  human  kindness. 
After  more  than  ten  years  of  conflict,  he  became  ac- 
knowledged as  the  founder  of  a  new  dynasty  and  was 
canonized  by  the  title  of  Han  Kao  Tsu,  "the  High  An- 
cestor of  the  House  of  Han,"  as  the  name  signified.    He 

306 


Irrigating  wheels  in   the   Yellow  River.     Hoisting  the  water  slightly  higher 
than   the  fields,    it   is    led   to    the   desired   points     by     shallow    trenches 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

An  Evangelist  of  the  China  Inland  Mission  who  labors  near  the  Great  Wall 


m  -  m  m  m  -  u  m  *  m  %    ™ 

Each  blade  of  grass  has  its  own  dew  drop. 

originated  on  the  banks  of  the  river  of  that  name,  and 
his  dynasty  became  so  conspicuous  that  it  has  become 
the  native  name  for  the  whole  empire,  which  to  outsiders 
recalls  his  predecessor,  Chin.  Even  at  the  present  day, 
when  Manchus  and  Chinese  are  spoken  of  in  contra- 
distinction to  each  other,  they  are  described  as  "Man 
and  Han,"  and  the  people  are  known  as  the  sons  of 
Han.  A  strong  man  is  described  by  them  as  Hao  Han 
Tzu,  "a  good  son  of  Han." 

One  of  his  ministers  suggested  to  the  emperor  that 
now  was  the  time  to  re-open  the  schools  and  to  give  a 
stimulus  to  education.  "What  do  I  want  with  schools?" 
replied  the  emperor,  "I  got  the  empire  on  horseback." 
Said  the  minister,  "True,  through  your  own  valor,  but 
can  you  govern  the  empire  on  horseback,  and  by  your 
sword  alone?"  Not  much,  however,  was  accomplished 
in  the  way  of  culture  until  the  next  reign,  when  a  dili- 
gent search  was  made  for  the  books  which  had  been 
destroyed.  Some  were  found  hidden  away  in  the  cran- 
nies of  old  walls,  and  others  were  reproduced  from  the 
memory  of  old  scholars.  But  after  all  that  could  be 
done,  there  were  great  gaps  in  the  continuity  of  the 
Confucian  classics,  so  much  so  that  when  the  western 
scholar  speaks  of  far-reaching  discovery  as  unknown  to 
China,  the  Chinese  scholar  replies,  "Ah,  but  that  must 
have  been  well  known  in  ancient  times,  and  the  books 
that  treated  of  it  were  burned  up."  Such  is  the  explana- 
tion which  they  are  prone  to  give  for  China's  failure  to 
keep  pace  with  the  world  in  scientific  progress.  So 
pathetic  was  their  reliance  on  books  until  lately,  that 


308  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

even  when  Confucius  says,  "The  progress  of  knowl- 
edge depends  on  the  study  of  nature,"  we  find  a  note 
by  the  commentator,  "the  treatise  on  the  Study  of  Na- 
ture was  lost." 

The  books  were  restored,  but  the  Confucian  ideal  of 
government  never  reappeared.  It  was  obliterated  as 
completely  as  if  his  chapters  in  praise  of  feudal  govern- 
ment had  never  risen  from  their  ashes.  The  wise 
founders  of  the  new  dynasty  appreciated  the  wisdom 
of  the  great  conqueror  in  welding  the  provinces  to- 
gether as  a  unit,  and  binding  them,  as  by  a  chain  of 
iron,  with  the  Great  Wall  itself.  Yet  beyond  that 
Barrier  the  hostile  power  of  the  north  had  also  made 
progress.  The  Tartars  had  made  innumerable  forays 
on  the  peaceful  principalities  prior  to  the  building  of  the 
Wall.  And  now  they  still  were  a  perpetual  menace  to 
the  peace  of  China.  Something  like  unity  had  taken 
place  among  their  scattered  tribes.  They  had  a  com- 
mon sovereign  who  called  himself  Shan  Yii,  and  who 
claimed  to  be  the  equal  of  the  Son  of  Heaven.  Em- 
bassies came  and  went  between  the  Tartar  north  and 
the  Chinese  south,  this  incipient  diplomatic  intercourse 
being  varied  by  the  frequent  detention,  imprisonment 
and  occasionally  decapitation  of  the  ambassador.  One 
of  those  ambassadors  best  known  was  Su  Wu,  man  of 
fame  for  his  literary  genius.  He  has  left  a  touching 
little  poem,  his  farewell  to  his  wife,  on  his  setting  out 
for  the  court  of  the  barbarous  Tartar  monarch,  which 
Dr.  Martin  thus  renders: 

Twin  trees  whose  boughs  together  twine 
Two  birds   that   guard   one   nest, 


n  ?e  z-  &  m  it  309 

Better  be  alive  and  poor  than  rich  and  dead. 

We'll  soon   be   far   asunder  torn, 
As   sunrise  from  the  West. 

Hearts   knit   in   childhood's    innocence, 
Long  bound  in  Hymen's  ties: 
One  goes  to  distant  battlefields ; 
One  sits  at  home  and  sighs. 

Like  carrier  bird,  the  seas  divide, 
I'll  seek  my  lonely  mate: 
But  if  afar  I  find  a  grave 
You'll   mourn  my   hapless   fate. 

100  B.  C. 

Another  illustration  of  the  relations  subsisting  be- 
tween Tartar  and  Chinese  at  that  epoch  may  often  be 
seen  exhibited  on  the  boards  of  a  Chinese  theater,  in 
the  shape  of  an  affecting  drama  called  "The  Princess 
Chao  crossing  the  Border."  The  princess  was  a  court 
beauty,  the  favorite  of  one  of  the  Han  emperors.  The 
Tartar  monarch,  hearing  of  her  fame,  demanded  her 
hand  as  a  condition  of  peace.  The  emperor  unwill- 
ingly consented  and  the  story  represents  the  grief  of 
the  court  beauty,  the  humiliation  of  the  Chinese  which 
that  implied  and  the  exultation  of  the  Tartars  at  this 
splendid  evidence  of  something  like  a  military  triumph. 
It  may  well  be  asked,  Where  was  the  Great  Wall  all  this 
time?  A  sufficient  force  might  always  maintain  the 
peace  of  China,  but  the  surprise  or  destruction  of  a 
single  garrison  might  at  any  time  open  the  way  to  an 
enemy,  and  the  Chinese  declined  to  pass  beyond  the 


310  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

frontier  so  clearly  marked  out,  to  ravage  their  foe  in 
his  own  steppes. 

The  ancient  dynasties  were  all  of  long  duration;  the 
modern  dynasties  ran  a  shorter  career.  Those  like  the 
Han,  the  T'ang,  the  Sung,  the  Ming  and  the  Ch'ing, 
the  present  house,  had  in  general  a  tenure  of  from  two 
hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  years.  The  reason 
of  this  difference  is  not  apparent,  though  we  may  sup- 
pose that  feudal  chiefs  when  left  to  their  own  inde- 
pendent action  are  content  to  recognize  a  nominal 
suzerainty,  whereas  a  centralized  government  which  has 
put  but  one  power  on  the  throne  always  presents  a 
temptation  to  usurpation  or  revolution.  There  is,  of 
course,  another  explanation,  that  the  earlier  history  is 
false.  Admittedly  the  earlier  records  were  destroyed 
by  Chin,  and  the  Book  of  History  which  has  been  re- 
stored only  deals  with  the  fortunes  of  part  of  the  Yel- 
low River  basin.  How  far  can  we  rely  on  the  correct 
restoration  of  the  text?  How  far  can  we  trust  the 
chronology  of  the  annalists?  The  certain  history  since 
Chin  shows  short-lived  dynasties ;  does  not  this  suggest 
that  the  earlier  history,  which  may  perhaps  be  correct 
in  fact,  is  yet  out  of  perspective — like  so  much  that  is 
Chinese — and  has  been  not  foreshortened,  but  hind- 
lengthened  ? 

Short  and  partial  dynasties  limited  to  different  por- 
tions of  the  empire  are  reckoned  in  the  succession,  but 
they  are  mostly  to  be  regarded  as  occupying  a  transi- 
tion period.  Of  these  there  were  five,  two  of  whom 
were  of  Tartar  origin.  After  one  of  these  intervals, 
occurs  what  is  called  the  Minor  Han,  which  was  itself 


*  %  3?  m  ^  ?e  «i  ^  «  ^,     311 

God  does  not  starve  the  blind  sparrow 

only  partial  and  temporary.  The  sphere  which  it  occu- 
pied, for  two  reigns  only,  was  the  modern  province  of 
Szechwan ;  the  rest  of  the  empire  being  divided  between 
two  other  rival  houses.  The  wars  between  these  houses 
form  an  heroic  age  for  China  immortalized  by  the 
greatest  of  their  historical  fiction,  the  so-called  "History 
of  the  Three  Kingdoms."  Of  the  three  heroes  of  the 
later  Han,  one  was  Kuan  Yii,  subsequently  canonized 
and  deified  as  Kuan  Ti  the  god  of  war,  special  pro- 
tector of  the  present  dynasty.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
uncertainty  of  his  origin,  in  an  historic  romance,  the  fact 
that  the  present  dynasty  has  been  beaten  in  most  of 
its  foreign  wars,  ought,  perhaps,  to  shake  their  confi- 
dence in  their  redoubtable  protector!1  Of  the  great 
dynasties  each  one  may  be  said  to  have  a  distinctively 
literary  character.  The  Hans  were  marked  by  the 
restoration  of  letters,  the  T'angs  by  the  most  perfect 
development  of  poetic  culture,  the  Sungs  by  the  most 
subtle  philosophic  speculation  and  literary  criticism,  the 
Ming  by  elegance  in  prose  composition,  and  the  Ch'ing 
by  the  incipient  influence  of  western  science. 

A  great  event  which  marks  the  period  of  the  Hans 
and  colors  that  of  all  succeeding  history  was  the  intro- 
duction of  Buddhism.  The  Emperor  Mingti  dreamed 
that  he  saw  a  golden  man  holding  in  his  hand  a  bow  and 
two  arrows.     The  Daniels  of  his  court  were  summoned 

1  This  applies  only  to  recent  wars  with  European  powers  and  Japan. 
The  present  dynasty  has  suppressed  numerous  rebellions,  some  of  them 
among  the  most  formidable  ever  known  in  history.  It  has  conducted 
marvelously  successful  campaigns  in  the  heart  of  Central  Asia,  and  added 
vast  territories  to  the  empire.  The  expedition  against  the  Gurkhas  in  1790 
was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  enterprises  ever  carried  out  by  man. 


312  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

to  explain  the  dream.  One  of  them  replied,  "It  ex- 
plains itself;  is  not  the  man  with  a  bow  and  two  arrows 
obviously  the  hieroglyphic  'foh,'  i.e.  Man-Bow-Buddha, 
which  consists  of  these  elements?"  The  emperor  joy- 
fully accepted  the  interpretation,  and  despatched  an 
embassy  to  India  in  quest  of  Buddhist  priests  and 
Buddhist  books.  To  some  extent  both  had  found  their 
way  already  to  China,  but  the  favor  of  imperial  sun- 
shine gave  an  immense  impulse  to  their  missionary 
enterprise,  and  the  omission  of  a  religious  element  in 
the  Confucian  culture  left  a  vacancy  to  be  occupied. 
This  was  in  the  year  66  a.d.  Fancy  strives  in  vain  to 
picture  the  condition  of  things  which  might  have  taken 
place  if  the  Chinese  embassy,  instead  of  stopping  at 
India,  had,  like  the  other  wise  men  from  the  East,  made 
its  way  to  Palestine  and  obtained  one  or  more  of  the 
apostles,  along  with  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  of 
the  Christian  faith.  The  Buddhist  books  suggested  the 
dream,  and  the  missionary  effort  of  the  Buddhist  priests 
had  brought  India  into  prominence  as  a  source  of  wis- 
dom and  culture  by  which  China  has  since  been  influ- 
enced far  more  than  the  world  generally  supposes. 

Under  the  T'ang  dynasty  about  five  centuries  later, 
Christian  missionaries  also  made  their  way  to  China. 
Though  not  summoned  by  an  imperial  embassy  they 
were  welcomed  at  the  imperial  court,  built  churches  by 
imperial  command  in  the  capital  itself,  and  won  con- 
verts by  hundreds  of  thousands  in  many  of  the  prov- 
inces. But  sad  to  say,  a  solitary  stone  in  the  capital  of 
the  T'ang  near  the  northwest  portion  of  the  Great 
Wall  remains  as  the  only  evidence  of  their  early  inva- 


58  w  *  T  *  m  «  313 

A  good  general  has  no  bad  soldiers. 

sion,  which  failed  to  issue  in  a  permanent  conquest. 
Traces,  indeed,  of  the  Syrians  or  "Nestorians"  and  their 
faith,  continue  to  show  themselves  in  later  periods,  but 
they  disappear  with  the  last  of  the  Mongols  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

In  looking  towards  the  period  of  T'ang,  when  the 
whole  of  Chin's  empire  was  reunited  after  nearly  four 
hundred  years,  we  discover  two  bright  poetic  stars 
which  blend  their  luster,  and  throw  into  the  shade  the 
genius  and  achievements  of  later  poets.  They  are  Li 
T'ai-Po1  and  Tu  Fu.  The  name  of  the  first  signifies 
"The  Morning  Star,"  a  title  bestowed  by  an  emperor 
who  declared  that  that  luminary  must  have  been  incor- 
porated in  his  person.  The  legendary  history  of  China 
is  full  of  stories  of  his  genius  and  his  eccentric  habits. 

His  great  rival,  if  less  brilliant,  is  scarcely  less  es- 
teemed, and  was  more  profound  and  learned.  His 
merits  being  recognized  late  in  life,  he  indulged  in  a 
review  of  his  fortunes  beginning  with  the  comical  con- 
fession, "For  thirty  years  I've  ridden  on  a  donkey,  and 
now  I  find  myself  mounted  in  a  chariot."  He  might 
have  said  on  Pegasus,  but  Chinese  poets  seem  to  know 
but  little  of  the  flying  steed. 

The  T'ang  period,  roughly  600-900  a.d.,  was  the 
brightest  in  the  Chinese  annals,  and  shows  China  incon- 
testably  the  foremost  nation  then  on  earth.  The  empire 
had  been  newly  surveyed  and  districted  on  the  system 
that  still  holds,  the  south  coast  was  permanently  incor- 
porated, an  oversea  traffic  was  developed  by  the  enter- 

'His  name  was  Li  Po;  T'ai-po  was  his  "style"  or  familar  appellation. 


314  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

prise  of  the  Arabs  and  the  wild  tribes  to  the  west  were 
subdued.  Literature  and  history  were  fostered,  print- 
ing was  invented,  education  was  promoted  throughout 
the  land,  the  laws  were  codified  and  the  judicial  system 
improved. 

Fifty-three  years  of  chaos  succeeded  before  a  strong 
leader  reunited  the  petty  kingdoms  and  founded  the 
Sung  dynasty.  In  their  days  the  scholars  and  the 
administrators  had  much  dissension  as  to  the  benefit  of 
Confucian  principles  in  actual  affairs,  and  this  diverted 
literary  taste  away  from  sterile  classics  to  more  practical 
subjects  or  to  deeper  problems.  Hence  the  sky  of  the 
Sungs  was  lit  up  by  a  constellation  of  philosophers,  five 
of  whom  shine  as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude.  Their 
names  are  Chou,  Chang,  Ch'eng,  Ch'eng,  Chu.1  The 
most  eminent  was  the  last,  Chu  Hsi,  a  prodigy  of  learn- 
ing, who  escaped  the  danger  of  mere  erudition,  and 
retained  to  the  last  a  broad  and  free  spirit  of  specula- 
tion. He  is  now  the  authorized  expositor  of  the  classical 
learning  of  China,  and  from  his  opinions  it  is  heresy  to 
dissent.  He  has,  indeed,  in  our  estimation,  somewhat 
perverted  the  teachings  of  earlier  sages  and  we  at  least 
feel  at  liberty  to  differ  from  him  in  his  interpretation 
of  the  word  T'ien,  i.e.  heaven.  This,  he  says,  is  a  prin- 
ciple, thus  denying  virtually  the  existence  of  a  conscious 
God,  a  doctrine  which  pervades  the  ancient  literature 
of  China,  and  without  which  it  becomes  unintelligible. 
As,  for  example: 

Emperors  have  been  enthroned  with  advertisement 
that  they  accept  the  appointment  by  the  will  of  Heaven. 

1  Chou  Tun-i,  Chang  Tsai,  Ch'eng  I,  Ch'eng  Hao,  Chu  Hsi. 


^■mjsm^mmwtmm      315 

Carters,  boatmen,  innkeepers,  carriers  and  yam£n 
runners  though  crimeless  should  be  killed. 

Rulers  have  ascended  the  altar  of  Heaven,  prayed,  made 
sacrifice,  and  in  the  flame  burned  paper  containing  the 
names  of  criminals  condemned  to  death,  that  the  smoke 
and  flame  might  ascend  to  Heaven  as  an  appeal  to  the 
supreme  power  to  ratify  the  act. 

From  the  beginning,  this  great  dynasty  was  harassed 
by  invasions  of  semi-barbarous  tribes  from  beyond  the 
Great  Wall.  Gradually  driven  back,  the  northern  prov- 
inces were  left  in  the  hands  of  the  invaders,  and  the 
native  capital  was  again  fixed  at  Nanking.1  After  a 
lapse  of  time  they  were  compelled  to  retire  farther 
south  to  Hangchow,  and  not  long  after,  the  last  of  the 
Sung  disappeared  from  the  arena,  leaving  the  empire 
to  the  Chin  Tartars  and  their  Mongol  rivals.  The  Wall 
had  ceased  to  avail  the  Chinese. 

1  It  had  previously  been  at  Kaifeng  in  Honan. 


316 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


Sketch  Map  by  Henry  French  Ridley 

TIBETAN  LOOP  OK  THE  GREAT  WALL 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

The  Tibetan  Loop  of  the  Great  Wall 
Fast  Horse  Caravan  into  Tibet 

The  discovery  of  a  Y  in  the  Great  Wall  near  the 
Lofty  Pass,  decided  us  to  journey  into  Tibet,  both  to 
search  for  more  Great  Wall,  and  to  study  the  descend- 
ants of  those  foes  against  whom  the  Great  Wall  was 
constructed.  The  journeys  into  the  higher  lands  lying 
toward  the  west  were  taken  on  fast  horses. 

Two  routes  are  open  to  the  traveler  from  Lanchow  to 
Sining.  We  selected  the  shorter,  more  beautiful,  and 
more  dangerous;  and  accomplished  the  six  days'  jour- 
ney in  three  and  one-half  days  going;  but  returning, 
broke  every  record  by  doing  the  distance  in  three  days! 
The  ancient  city  of  Sining  acted  as  a  base  from  which 
various  expeditions  were  made  in  search  of  the  Tibetan 
arm  of  the  Great  Wall  of  Chin  Shih  Huang  Ti.  The 
first  excursion  was  to  Gumbum. 

Gumbum,  "the  seat  of  ten  thousand  images,"  is  the 
most  important  lamasery  on  earth  next  to  Lhasa,  the 
home  of  the  founder  of  the  present  system  of  Bud- 
dhism: and  the  lounging  place  of  thirty-six  hundred 
lamas. 

Leaving  Sining  by  the  West  Gate  we  passed  under 
the  lee  of  the  Funghwang  Mountain,  named  in  honor  of 
the  legendary  bird  of  China,  and  rode  up  the  pictur- 
esque Southern  Valley,  passing  pilgrims  who,  like  our- 

317 


318  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

selves,  were  on  their  way  to  Gumbum.  There  was, 
however,  this  difference:  they  were  actuated  by  reli- 
gious zeal  which  helped  them  to  tramp  along  the  dusty 
road,  whereas  we  were  incited  to  action  merely  by  curi- 
osity and  science.  Indeed,  had  it  not  been  for  the  hope 
of  finding  remains  of  the  Great  Wall,  important  as 
Gumbum  is,  we  must  have  desisted. 

Our  well-mounted  caravan  trotted  on  to  Shangsin 
Chwang,  the  Upper  New  Village,  where  we  came  upon 
the  reputed  remains  of  the  Great  Wall.  These  were 
measured  and  photographed  and  studied.  At  this 
point  the  Wall  is  known  by  the  following  names:  Pien 
Ch'iang,  the  Boundary  Wall,  Ch'ang  Ch'iang,  the  Long 
Wall  and  Wu  Ling  Ch'iang,  the  Five  Ranges  Wall; 
this  latter  signified  that  it  passes  over  five  ranges  of 
mountains  or  hills.  The  Long  Wall  follows  the  foot- 
hills from  the  Pass  to  Kia  Ya,  where  it  ascends  and  fol- 
lows the  crest  of  the  mountain  in  a  northwesterly  direc- 
tion behind  the  lamasery  of  Gumbum,  thence  to  Tsa 
Ma  Lang,  where  we  purpose  to  examine  it  en  route  to 
Tibet.  At  a  point  ten  7/  southeast  of  Gumbum  the  ruins 
measured  ten  feet  at  the  base  and  twenty  feet  in  height. 
Five  li  from  Gumbum  are  remains  of  a  moat,  which 
paralleled  the  Long  Wall  on  the  Tibetan  side.  As  the 
Tibetans  cannot  walk,  the  combination  of  moat  and 
wall  was  effectual  in  preventing  a  charge  by  the  fierce 
horsemen. 

This  ruin  does  not  date  back  to  remote  times,  but  is 
not  improbably  on  the  line  of  an  ancient  structure. 
Strangely  enough  the  history  of  Sining  District  makes 
no  mention  of  the  Long  Wall  in  its  own  writing,  but 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

Two  views  of  the  ruins  of  the  Tibetan  or  Sining  Loop  of  the  Great  Wall. 
This  stretch  does  not  appear  on  the  present  maps 


/, 


M  &  5*  fx  319 


We  wed  a  wife  for  her  virtue,  a  concubine  for  her 
looks. 

refers  to  books  no  longer  extant!  Scholars  are  of  opin- 
ion that  these  ruins  represent  a  structure  of  the  Chin 
Dynasty.1  The  brick  and  stone  veneering  have  disap- 
peared, leaving  it  naked  and  exposed  to  atmospheric 
changes.  We  take  pleasure  in  calling  the  attention  of 
chartographers  to  the  Tibetan  loop,  and  possibly  some 
pride  in  adding  two  hundred  miles  of  Great  Wall  to 
the  map  of  China. 

Our  first  view  of  Gumbum  was  disappointing,  so  we 
pushed  on  into  the  town  itself.  The  first  object  visited 
was  the  famous  tree  of  healing.  The  lamas  carefully 
gather  up  all  the  fallen  leaves  and  sell  them  to  all  and 
sundry  who  desire  healing.  One  poor  cripple  bent  dou- 
ble was  hoping  that  the  leaves  would  straighten  him 
out.  How  dastardly  to  deceive  the  poverty-stricken 
cripple!  One  pilgrim  was  measuring  his  body  on  the 
ground  as  he  made  a  pilgrimage  about  the  palace. 
Merely  as  a  matter  of  exercise  it  was  admirable.  A 
visit  here  at  this  center  of  Buddhism  will  disgust  a 
thinking  person  with  the  whole  exhibition  of  the  re- 
ligion. The  deception  practised  by  the  leaders  is  beyond 
belief,  and  the  sincerity  of  the  "common  herd"  corres- 
pondingly pitiable  and  pathetic.  The  ignorance  of 
the  lamas  is  dense.  We  asked  the  simplest  questions, 
but  they  did  not  know  the  answers.  How  would  a  visit 
to  London  or  to  St.  Anne  de  Beaupre  strike  a  Bud- 
dhist, we  wonder. 

1  In  the  Ashley  collection  of  voyages  mention  is  made  of  a  foreign  trav- 
eler who  passed  into  Sining  a.d.  1661  and  who  saw  "a  vast  wall"  on  the 
top  of  which  people  "traveled  from  the  gate  of  Sining  to  the  next  at 
Sochow,  which  is  18  days'  journey!" 


320  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

On  scrutinizing  a  group  of  fifteen  lamas,  we  felt 
the  faces  could  be  duplicated  in  any  large  American 
prison.  Those  faces  indicated  either  that  they  were 
actual  criminals  or  at  least  capable  of  criminality !  One 
lama  indeed  was  executed  in  the  Yamen  at  Kweite  for 
murder  and  robbery.  Another  sent  to  a  missionary  for 
medicine  to  commit  race  suicide.  The  opportunity 
presented  to  the  Christian  for  teaching  wholesome 
truth  was  seized  with  avidity.  But  not  all  lamas  are 
criminals  though  the  lamaseries  are  sanctuaries  for  such ; 
we  did  see  one  face  that  really  suggested  the  religious 
recluse  or  esthetic.  Those  who  are  inclined  to  favor 
Buddhism,  should  visit  their  headquarters  in  Gumbum 
during  the  Butter  Festival  and  see  the  revelry  of  men 
and  women.  Was  ever  a  Turkish  harem  worse?  Bud- 
dhism has  not  only  failed  to  arrest  the  descent  of  its 
priests  into  immorality,  but  has  utterly  failed  to  supply 
China  with  moral  growth.     China  needs  Christianity. 

One  point  is  commendable,  that  after  a  service  those 
present  tell  the  absentee  what  has  been  taught.  Other- 
wise there  was  no  trace  of  schools,  hospitals,  or  anything 
else  of  advantage  to  the  human  race.  Thirty-six  hun- 
dred lazy  lamas,  ignorant  and  unclean,  constitute  the 
religious  inhabitants  of  the  second  most  important  cen- 
ter of  Buddhism  on  the  surface  of  the  globe! 

The  Kalkhas  affirm  that  their  Kantouktou  has  al- 
ready seen  sixteen  generations,  and  that  his  physiog- 
nomy changes  with  the  phases  of  the  moon.  At  new 
moon,  he  has  the  appearance  of  a  youth,  at  the  full,  of  a 
man  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  appears  quite  old  in  the 
last  quarter. 


&  #  ffi  B5  Z-  &  %  321 

Soldiering  depends  on  training  not  on  numbers. 

Again  we  passed  out  of  the  historic  West  Gate  of 
Sining,  and  stopped  at  Ta  Ha  Leng  to  measure  the 
remains  of  the  selfsame  Barrier  we  met  on  the  road  to 
Gumbum.  This  done,  the  caravan  started  for  Tibet. 
Just  what  emotions  close  in  upon  the  mind  of  one  who 
for  years  had  longed  to  visit  on  the  Roof  of  the  World 
the  mysterious  men  who  even  before  the  days  of  Chin 
were  not  to  be  trifled  with,  eludes  description.  We  had 
looked  upon  "Sweet  Galilee,"  fairest  sea  in  all  the  world, 
Lake  Lucerne,  Victoria  Nyanza,  Albert  Edward  Ny- 
anza,  Windermere,  Michigan,  Loch  Katrine,  and  a  mul- 
titude of  "waters"  more  or  less  prominent  in  the  popular 
mind ;  but  in  Tibet  is  a  lake  nine  thousand  feet  above  the 
tide,  and  reflecting  the  sky  that  arches  the  wonder  land, 
the  danger  land,  the  lama  land  of  Tibet.  We  went  to 
see  the  blue-green  Koko  Nor ! 

From  the  Yellow  Sea  to  the  lofty  heights  containing 
the  highest  point  on  the  earth's  surface  is  a  gradual 
slope  upward.  On  this  vast  ascent  lies  the  whole  length 
of  the  Great  Wall.  And  between  the  Great  Wall 
and  Mount  Everest,  whose  summit  cuts  the  sky  at  twen- 
ty-eight thousand  feet,  is  the  closed  land,  and  hence  the 
mysterious  land,  of  wild  horsemen.  Closed  lands  have 
an  attractiveness  born  of  uncertainty. 

Although  it  was  but  early  in  September,  we  took 
precautions  of  dress,  carrying  a  wardrobe  well  stocked 
with  heavy  woolens  and  furs.  The  ascent  was  gradual 
until  an  altitude  of  ten  thousand  feet  was  reached. 
Hour  followed  hour  in  rapid  succession  as  our  horses 
carried  us  toward  the  water-shed  of  Central  Asia.    And 

21 


322  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

when  at  last  we  stood  on  Ta  Obo  Shan  and  saw  before  us 
vast  latitudes  of  white,  brown  and  green,  amidst  which 
lay  the  beautiful  Koko  Nor,  the  entire  caravan  was 
silenced  with  admiration.  Behind  us  was  oceanic  drain- 
age and  before  us  the  beginnings  of  the  drainage  of 
Central  Asia.  Behind  us  the  valleys  and  rivers  of 
the  vast  slope  toward  the  Pacific  Ocean;  before  us  the 
descent  into  the  inland  lakes  of  the  heart  of  Asia. 
The  three  great  rivers  of  China  flow  eastward,  hence 
China  constitutes  the  Pacific  slope  of  the  Asian  conti- 
nent. Standing  on  Ta  Obo  Shan  a  marvelous  view 
greeted  the  eyes  at  every  turn.  To  the  right  stretched 
the  massive  northern  mountain  range,  snow-capped  and 
superb;  behind  us  the  Sun  and  Moon  Mountains,  on 
the  foothills  of  which  lay  quaint,  quiet,  fortified  Ha 
Lah  Ku  Tu ;  to  the  left  the  Yao  Mo  Shan ;  to  the  south 
Koko  Nor. 

A  cloudless  sky  looked  down  on  a  houseless,  fenceless 
scene  of  white  and  green  and  blue  and  black.  Over  the 
undulating  landscape  roamed  flocks  of  sheep  and  herds 
of  yak,  the  latter  of  exceptional  size.  They  pastured 
on  sweet  grasses  amidst  which  grew  the  bluest  flowers 
the  eyes  had  ever  beheld. 

The  whole  country  is  gay  with  color.  To  match 
nature,  the  Tibetans  clothe  themselves  in  materials  of 
rich  tint,  yellow  and  red  and  orange;  and  gaudy  flags 
flutter  from  many  lofty  points. 

They  are  fiercely  patriotic.  Their  Monroe  doctrine 
has  long  been  announced  with  fervor  and  enforced  with 
vigor.  Few  foreigners  may  penetrate  into  their  country ; 
some  have  risked  their  lives  and  come  out  again  to 


*"  *  *  &  j)  %  *  fe  %  B  323 

The  grief  of  age  over  the  neglect  of  youth  is  vain. 

give  us  glimpses  of  the  forbidden  land ;  but  our  knowl- 
edge of  it  is  less  until  the  Younghusband  expedition 
than  our  knowledge  of  Japan  before  its  seclusion  was 
invaded.  These  fierce  horsemen  are  a  lofty  line  of 
proud  ancestry. 

Their  food  is  good,  their  location  admirable,  their 
muscles  strong.  They  can  ride  and  that  right  nobly, 
realizing  almost  the  ancient  fable  of  the  Centaurs.  It 
is  an  exaggeration  to  say  they  cannot  walk ;  their  heavy, 
clumsy  foot-gear  prevents  comfortable  progress  on  the 
feet;  but  then  they  are  naturally  cavalrymen,  and  per- 
haps will  become  as  good  artillerymen.  Chin  exercised 
wisdom  when  he  erected  a  Great  Wall  between  these 
hardy,  daring,  mounted  warriors,  and  the  quiet,  home- 
loving,  plodding  peasants  of  his  own  fertile  kingdom. 
But  they  pondered  over  his  policy,  and  reversed  it. 
They  have  drawn  an  impalpable  barrier  around  their 
own  land,  and  now  there  are  roads  leading  out  of 
Tibet,  but  none  leading  in.  Where  else  in  the  world 
do  we  find  single-action  roads  of  such  a  kind?  Look 
at  this  sample  face!  Quickly  does  it  change;  passions 
powerful  and  precipitate  dwell  behind  that  bright  red 
scarf.  Always  handy  is  the  sword,  ever  loaded  is  the 
gun.  No  bells  herald  the  approach  of  these  horsemen, 
as  in  China;  silently  they  sweep  through  the  night,  or 
rush  through  the  day.  Ready  are  they  to  meet  a  foe, 
or  rob  a  friend,  with  the  utmost  jollity  of  demeanor. 

But  patriotism  is  excelled  by  one  other  sentiment, 
religion;  and  all  the  bright  coloring  we  rejoice  in  is 
symbolic  of  this  also.     The  various  tints  tell  of  the 


324  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

various  orders  of  monks,  just  as  in  medieval  Europe, 
but  instead  of  black,  white  and  gray  friars,  they  have 
red,  orange  and  yellow  monks.  Strange  has  been  the 
connection  between  these  Buddhists  and  Christians.  It 
was  the  Buddha  who  first  worked  up  hermits  into  an 
order  of  monks,  whence  the  idea  spread  westward  and 
was  acclimatized  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  in  Asia  Minor 
and  Italy,  and  at  last  over  all  European  Christendom. 
But  the  Syrian  missionaries  to  China  a  thousand  years 
later  brought  a  western  wave  of  influence,  which  deeply 
modified  the  Buddhist  customs  in  Tibet,  so  that  they 
adopted  many  rites  of  worship  from  the  Christians. 
And  when  the  Abbe  Hue  found  the  full-blown  ritual 
in  these  highlands,  he  could  but  wonder  how  the  devil 
had  inspired  these  idolaters  to  parody  Christianity. 

Deeply  religious  are  these  Tibetans;  gladly  they  give 
their  sons  to  the  lamasery,  and  thousands  pass  at  least 
a  part  of  their  lives,  if  not  the  greater  part,  as  celibates 
busy  at  prayer,  or  are  ingenious  enough  to  harness  wind 
and  water  to  grind  their  prayer-mills,  while  they  idle 
in  "mystic  contemplation."  With  such  a  capacity  for 
religion,  do  they  not  deserve  the  best  to  be  had?  They 
are  of  such  quality  that  many  heroic  souls  have  for 
years  been  living  on  the  border,  waiting  for  the  oppor- 
tunity to  ascend  into  this  Asiatic  Switzerland,  and 
cause  a  purer  light  to  irradiate  its  uplands. 

Infested  as  this  region  is  with  robbers,  we  were  loath 
to  leave  the  superb  scenery,  the  invigorating  atmos- 
phere, and  the  heroic-looking  mountaineers.  Probably 
we  shall  have  more  to  say  about  Tibet  at  some  future 
time.    Meantime  we  signalized  our  departure  by  a  fight 


.fi 


—  icm&'BiMwm        325 

One  cash  may  overthrow  a  hero. 

with  some  fierce  Tibetan  dogs,  and  retired  in  good  order 
down  to  the  great  frontier  which  was  the  base  of  our 
exploration. 

Inside  the  recently  re-discovered  Tibetan  loop  of  the 
Great  Wall  the  city  of  Sining  occupies  an  important 
position,  and  its  antiquity  is  sufficient  to  warrant  it 
having  had  six  different  names.  It  began  as  Hwang 
Chung,  which  signifies,  "In  the  Midst  of  Cold  Water." 
The  aborigines  who  founded  the  city  so  called  it  be- 
cause of  the  snow-drainage  flowing  in  divers  channels 
hard  by  the  site.  This  ancient  name  is  perpetuated  by 
the  local  cavalry  regiment.  But  the  Chinese  of  the 
Han  dynasty  changed  the  name  to  Kin  Chen  Kuin, 
"The  Golden  City";  the  reason  remains  remote.  There 
being  much  non-mountainous  land  near  about,  it  was 
next  named  Sip'ing  or  "The  Western  Plain."  The 
reason  for  these  frequent  changes  was  not  given  in  the 
history  consulted.  Shanchow  was  followed  by  Ts'ing 
Tan  Chen,  "The  Clear  Boasting  City" — most  prosper- 
ous places  possess  that  undesirable  quality.  The  sixth 
name  was  Sining,  "The  Peaceful  West."  A  name  less 
appropriate  could  hardly  have  been  invented,  for  in  the 
province  of  Kansu  each  generation  has  a  rebellion  of  its 
own.  The  whole  Chinese  people  are  warlike.  During 
the  last  two  thousand  years,  there  have  been  fifty  real 
rebellions  or  wars,  making  the  astonishing  average  of 
one  fighting  period  in  every  forty  years,  or  about  the 
same  as  the  United  States,  and  rather  fewer  than  Great 
Britain.  And  yet  careless  observers  tell  the  ignorant  that 
China  hates  and  avoids  war.    She  prefers  peace  to  war, 


326  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

but  when  the  latter  is  forced  upon  her,  she  awakens  the 
ancient  spirit  to  tremendous  activity  and  success.  Few 
cities  can  boast  scenes  of  confusion  and  bloodshed  equal 
to  those  witnessed  in  the  "Peaceful  West."  Horrors 
past  the  power  of  pen  and  pencil  to  depict,  have  been 
enacted  within  these  curving  walls. 

Beautiful  for  situation,  resting  softly  on  the  gentle 
slopes  of  the  Nan  Shan  foothills,  looking  out  upon  four 
broad  fertile  valleys,  Sining  occupies  a  strategic  posi- 
tion. High  massive  brick-faced  walls,  with  bastions, 
towers,  battlements,  and  four  gates,  strong  and  heavy, 
constitute  the  fortifications.  The  East  Gate  deserves 
particular  mention,  for  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  por- 
tal is  a  portcullis  of  a  thousand  catties'  weight. 

If  the  East  Gate  is  interesting  itself,  the  West  Gate 
furnishes  a  thrilling  story  of  tragedy.  Here  eight  lead- 
ers of  a  rebellion,  after  being  court-martialed,  were  led 
out  to  execution.  As  they  passed  between  the  inhuman 
populace  lining  the  two  sides  of  the  streets,  they  were 
subjected  to  the  horrible  experience  of  sword  and  spear 
thrusts  until,  mangled  and  bleeding,  the  place  of  execu- 
tion relieved  them  of  their  heads  and  their  sufferings. 
But  this  was  not  all.  No  sooner  had  the  hapless 
heads  fallen  on  the  pavement,  than  the  executioners 
ripped  open  the  bodies,  tore  out  the  hearts  and  ate  them, 
as  morsels  reckoned  to  transfer  the  heroic  spirit  of  the 
enemy  to  their  own  hearts ! 

Not  far  from  the  West  Gate  one  sees  many  quaint 
water-mills  furnished  by  artificial  canals  and  run  on 
the  ancient  principle  of  horizontal  lever  action  with  a 
tremendous  waste  of  power.    They  are  perched  on  half 


XmMt&MMiKM*.         327 

To  a  frog  in  a  well,  heaven  is  only  a  sieve  in  size. 

a  dozen  piles,  the  wheel  is  horizontal,  built  of  wood,  and 
attached  to  a  perpendicular  shaft,  at  the  upper  end  of 
which  is  the  millstone.  The  water  flows  down  a  trough 
wide  at  the  top,  narrow  at  the  bottom,  striking  the  broad 
spokes  at  less  than  a  right  angle,  and  grinds  grain.  The 
tariff  is  two  hundred  cash  a  bag,  or  if  money  is  not 
forthcoming,  the  miller  keeps  the  bran.  Two  of  these 
picturesque  mills  grind  tobacco  stalks,  which  are  then 
pressed  with  the  leaves  and  shaved.  All  the  way  to 
Tibet  we  came  upon  similar  quaint  flour  factories  often 
nestled  in  the  most  fascinating  bits  of  scenery.  The 
South  River  is  crossed  by  ford  or  ferry  except  for  a 
few  months  when  temporary  bridges  are  constructed  by 
the  inhabitants  living  on  the  shore.  One  bridge,  how- 
ever, is  always  ready  for  use  by  the  Ambam,  the  Imperial 
Resident,  who  governs  the  northern  portion  of  Tibet. 

On  the  north  hills,  in  the  red  loess  earth,  are  many 
caves.  One  of  the  hills  was  formerly  occupied  by 
groups  of  temples  which  have  not  been  rebuilt  since  the 
last  Mohammedan  rebellion.  The  fact  that  these  weak 
gods  and  their  houses  remain  demolished  suggests  the 
decadence  of  the  faith  of  Buddha.  The  passing  of 
Buddhism  is  also  indicated  by  the  many  temples  out  of 
repair.  Sining  is  a  city  of  temples  and  yamens.  Here 
one  is  likely  to  find  evidences  of  the  ascent  or  descent  of 
the  idolatrous  worship  of  monstrous  images.  Buddhism 
is  a  godless  religion,  but  can  there  be  a  religion  without 
a  god? 

The  north  wall  of  the  city  is  full  of  curves.  When 
being  constructed,  before  it  was  well  set,  a  heavy  fall 


328  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

of  snow  descended,  whereupon  the  dragon  came  and 
laid  himself  along  the  wet  wall,  causing  the  great 
masonry  to  yield  to  the  shape  of  his  body.  The  wall  is 
forty  feet  in  height,  thirty  feet  thick  at  the  base  and 
fifteen  on  top.  Along  the  battlement  are  heaps  of 
white  cobblestones  ready  to  be  used  in  resisting  an 
assault. 

The  interest  of  the  visitor  is  sustained,  on  whatever 
side  of  the  city  he  happens  to  be.  By  the  North  Gate  is 
a  spring  of  pure,  cold  drinking  water  of  capacity  suffi- 
cient to  supply  the  city  suburbs.  Strange  to  relate,  a 
blind  people's  courtyard  is  provided  by  the  government 
which  supplies  each  sightless  person  living  there  with 
half  a  pound  of  flour  per  day;  any  other  support  is 
obtained  by  begging. 

The  granaries  are  busy  and  interesting  places.  We 
visited  one  where  grain  is  stored  for  a  year.  Like 
Joseph  in  Egypt,  the  officials  store  it  up  against  a 
famine  or  a  rebellion.  A  supply  to  provide  for  twenty 
thousand  additional  people  who  may  flock  to  the  city  for 
safety,  is  provided. 

The  schools  in  the  city,  which  have  adopted  modern 
methods,  are  three  in  number,  two  being  high  schools. 
The  teachers,  unfortunately,  have  had  but  one  year's 
training  in  Lanchow,  and  naturally  only  the  most  ele- 
mentary teaching  can  be  done.  The  subjects  are  geog- 
raphy, mathematics,  geology  and  drills.  The  sum  total 
attendance  is  two  hundred.  This  is  a  small  beginning, 
but  indicates  that  the  reform  movement  which  is  sweep- 
ing over  this  vast  empire  has  reached  the  borders  of 
Tibet.     Other  evidences  of  reform  are  the  change  in 


tr  m  m  *  jh  •&  is  329 

When  the  mule  is  beaten  the  horse  is  scared. 

the  style  of  clothing ;  narrower  sleeves  and  shorter,  semi- 
foreign  fashion,  and  small  straw  hats  have  evidently 
come  to  stay. 

Then  there  is  the  newly  organized  police  force,  and 
the  modernizing  of  the  troops.  For  Sining  is  not  only 
a  city  of  temples  and  yamens,  but  of  barracks.  Here 
are  quartered  two  hundred  horse  and  two  thousand  foot 
soldiers.  If  there  are  many  yamens  there  are  many 
officials,  including  the  Amban.  Many  Tibetans  visit 
the  city,  bringing  in  borax,  rhubarb,  musk,  antlers,  wool, 
and  the  beautiful  Tibetan  sable  furs,  for  which  they 
purchase  foreign  calico  of  bright  colors,  colored  thread, 
beads,  and  Khata,  which  is  the  Scarf  of  Blessing,  made 
of  silk,  and  pale  blue  in  color.  Fish  from  the  Koko  Nor 
are  sold  on  the  street. 

Among  the  sights  of  the  city  is  the  Confucian  temple. 
Within  the  precincts  of  this  temple  have  been  enacted 
scenes  which  will  live  in  history.  Here  thousands  of 
bleeding  men  were  ministered  to  by  three  foreigners  who 
were  living  in  the  city  at  the  time  of  the  recent  rebellion. 
Their  names  and  themselves  deserve  public  recogni- 
tion at  the  hands  of  the  imperial  government.  Henry 
French  Ridley,  his  heroic  wife,  and  James  C.  Hall, 
day  after  day  for  months  went  to  the  Confucian  temple 
and  operated  on  the  wounded  soldiers,  often  under  the 
most  disgusting  conditions,  but  with  eminent  success. 
When  diphtheria  broke  out,  horror  was  added  to  horror. 
Then  came  smallpox;  Ridley  himself  was  stricken 
down  with  illness.  But  for  nine  months  the  mission- 
aries labored  with  a  courage  and  heroism  uneclipsed  in 


330  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

the  annals  of  war,  and  yet  they  have  been  left  without 
the  Decoration  of  the  Dragon  or  any  proper  acknowl- 
edgment on  the  part  of  the  imperial  power.  The 
nervous  strain  endured  by  this  faithful  trio  is  beyond 
human  language  to  describe,  and  their  service  beyond 
all  praise.  Over  five  thousand  people  died  of  disease 
during  the  siege.  Children  were  thrown  into  the  streets, 
and  were  later  thrown  into  a  hole  outside  the  West  Gate. 
The  sanitary  conditions  beggar  description.  When, 
each  day,  the  refuse  in  the  streets  thawed  out,  the  stench 
was  almost  unendurable. 

The  last  and  most  important  site  in  the  city  of  Sining 
is  the  China  Inland  Mission,  with  its  heroic  servants, 
the  English  missionaries.  Here  is  the  most  beautiful 
chapel  in  Kansu,  and  the  only  chapel  in  China,  so  far 
as  we  know,  built  entirely  by  money  contributed  by  ex- 
plorers and  travelers,  including  the  gifts  of  Roman 
Catholics.  In  this  chapel  may  be  found  at  almost  any 
service  Mongolians,  Tibetans,  aboriginals,  Chinese  and 
foreigners.  The  church  membership  is  growing,  and 
the  whole  aspect  of  the  movement  is  that  of  success. 
The  prosperity  of  Christian  missions  on  the  borderland 
of  Tibet  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  success  attending  such 
efforts  throughout  China.  Considering  the  mental  and 
spiritual  surroundings,  we  hold  this  mission  a  miracle 
of  modern  times. 

Here  is  just  the  place  for  a  physician  skilful  in  sur- 
gery, proficient  in  medication,  and  true  as  a  Christian. 
His  services  would  carry  his  name  into  the  far  fastnesses 
of  mysterious  Tibet,  where  would  be  told  the  story  of 
Christian  philanthropy.     Even  in  the  Panhandle  of 


tt&.m$i%^&%        331 

Birth  and  death  are  decreed,  wealth    and  honour 
are  with  God. 

China  we  heard  of  the  brilliant  surgeon,  H.  S.  Jenkins, 
and  his  gifted  confederate,  at  Sianfu,  many  days'  jour- 
ney toward  sunrise !  Why  are  medical  men  selfish  ?  In 
America  are  hundreds  of  doctors  to  spare.  We  can 
think  of  no  better  opportunity  for  gifted  surgeons  of 
culture  and  generous  Christian  spirit  to  serve  this  day 
and  generation,  than  right  here,  seven  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea  at  Ridley's  mission,  situated  inside  the 
Great  Wall  on  the  high  road  leading  into  the  mysteri- 
ous Land  of  the  Lamas. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

The  Chin  Tablet:  "One  of  the  most  remarkable  Relics 
of  Antiquity.3' 

The  Great  Emperor  established  his  capital  near  Kwan- 
chung,  known  to-day  as  Sianfu.  The  site  had  already 
been  a  petty  capital  for  nearly  nine  centuries,  but  he 
transformed  it  into  a  city  of  the  first  magnitude.  It 
was  the  operation  that  Nebuchadnezzar  performed  on 
Babylon,  Augustus  on  Rome — finding  it  of  brick,  and 
leaving  it  of  marble — Constantine  on  Byzantium,  or 
that  which  in  the  new  world  has  produced  Ottawa  where 
only  Bytown  stood  before,  Chicago  where  was  but  an 
army  post.  Chin  traced  an  outline,  and  erected  walls 
the  representative  of  which  have  stood  for  two  millen- 
niums defying  all  assailants. 

When  Kufu  finished  his  great  pyramid  near  the 
Nile,  he  carved  an  inscription ;  and  this  fashion  has  per- 
sisted in  all  ages  and  places.  The  obelisks  of  Egypt, 
the  clay  cylinders  of  Chaldea,  the  Persian  crosses  on 
the  coasts  of  India,  all  prepare  us  to  hear  that  Chin,  too, 
erected  a  monument  with  some  record  of  his  doings.  It 
is  not  every  one  who  has  the  restraint  to  say,  as  of  Chris- 
topher Wren,  "If  you  would  see  his  monument,  gaze 
around"  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 

Chin,  therefore,  encouraged  his  prime  minister  Li 
Ssii  to  compose  an  inscription.  It  recorded  the  ascent 
of  Chin  from  mere  kingship  to  the  sway  over  the  six 

332 


The    Great    Wall     of    China  Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 

Henry  French   Ridley,  hero  of  Sining,   in   Tibetan   Costume 


3S  Z-  m  %  $  ^  333 

Jade  unpolished  does  not  make  a  gem. 

kingdoms,  his  stopping  war  and  bringing  peace  to  all 
the  black-headed  race,  his  personal  visitation  of  his  con- 
quests. It  edged  in  a  neat  complimentary  reference  to 
the  ministers  who  had  carried  out  his  measures,  but  it 
failed  to  take  account  of  the  weakness  of  Chin,  desiring 
to  be  known  as  The  Only  First.  When,  therefore,  it 
was  submitted  to  him  for  approval,  he  marked  the 
omission,  so  that  his  observant  courtiers  hastily  begged 
to  be  allowed  to  amend  it  in  this  respect. 

Very  few  inscriptions  had  been  carved  on  stone  at 
that  date.  There  is  indeed  some  writing  on  the  rocks  at 
Kan-lan-shan,  which  was  first  seen  in  the  year  1210  a.d., 
and  is  supposed  by  some  to  date  from  2200  B.C.!  But 
it  names  nobody,  and  many  Chinese  scholars  regard  it 
as  really  executed,  at  the  earliest,  fifty  years  after  Chin, 
and  inspired  by  this  very  undertaking.  There  were,  how- 
ever, ten  low  pillars,  with  lettering  describing  a  great 
hunt  which  had  taken  place  about  six  hundred  years 
before  Chin,  near  the  seaboard,  so  that  there  was  some 
precedent  for  carving  in  stone. 

Yet  there  were  no  other  relics  of  antiquity  in  any 
such  imperishable  material.  The  huge  rock  inscription 
of  the  Hittites  or  of  Darius  in  western  Asia,  cannot  be 
paralleled  at  this  time  in  any  part  of  Chin's  empire. 
The  art  of  writing  was  still  in  its  childhood;  the  com- 
mon material  was  bamboo,  the  implement  was  a  knife 
which  scratched  the  letters.  And  as  we  know,  against 
the  literature  thus  painfully  recorded,  Chin  issued  an 
edict  of  destruction. 

He,  in  effect,  opened  a  new  era  in  the  development 


334  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

of  writing  within  his  domains,  when  he  ordered  that  the 
record  drawn  up  by  Li  Ssii  and  amended  by  himself, 
should  be  carved  on  a  stone  tablet  and  erected  on  a  low 
pedestal.  Between  scratching  on  bamboo,  with  a  grain 
that  tempted  the  graver  to  work  across  it,  and  carving 
on  stone  which  yields  equally  to  the  chisel  in  all  direc- 
tions, there  is  of  necessity  a  difference.  This  reflects 
itself  in  the  shape  of  the  letters,  for  on  stone  it  is  far 
easier  to  carve  in  straight  lines  than  to  execute  a  curve. 
The  peculiar  script  adopted  for  Chin's  tablet  is  known 
to-day  as  the  seal  characters.  It  will  be  recollected  that 
in  a  short  time  woven  silk  was  adopted  for  the  material, 
and  a  soft  brush  was  used  to  paint  on  it.  This  rapidly 
modified  the  style  of  writing  into  graceful  curves,  while 
the  seal  character  was  reserved  for  graving  on  stones, 
whether  large  or  small,  whence  the  modern  name. 

The  monument  was  duly  executed  in  this  lapidary 
script,  and  on  Mount  I  was  erected  to  proclaim  the 
glories  of  Chin.  We  are  of  opinion  that  two  copies 
were  inscribed  at  the  same  time,  one  of  which  was  situ- 
ated in  the  capital  of  Chin. 

It  set  a  new  fashion,  and  gradually  other  monuments 
were  clustered  around  it,  as  on  the  Sieges  Allee  of 
Berlin  there  grew  up  a  perfect  forest  of  tablets,  mostly 
commemorating  the  glories  of  the  rulers.  It  is  rather 
amusing  to  recollect  that  Chin  was  particularly  averse 
to  the  classics  selected  by  Confucius,  and  then  to  find 
that  the  Thirteen  Classics  have  been  inscribed  on  a  set  of 
tablets  erected  here,  while  a  full-length  portrait  of  that 
sage  has  been  sculptured  hard  by. 

Europeans  often  seek  this  eastern  Westminster  Ab- 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 

This   photograph  of  the  modest   but   beautiful   China    Inland    Mission   home 
at   Chinchow    was   taken    from    the    roof   of   the   church 


^»Hff^*n*^ffl-»         335 

The   myriad  schemes  of  men  are  not  worth   one 
scheme  of  God. 

bey,  to  study  there  the  famous  Nestorian  tablet,  seven 
feet  high  by  three  wide,  which  was  erected  a  thousand 
years  after  Chin,  telling  in  Syriac  and  Chinese  the  story 
of  a  great  Christian  mission  from  Babylon,  inaugurated 
653  a.d.  The  Chinese  antiquary  finds  in  this  park 
original  records  of  every  period  from  the  time  of  Chin 
till  about  1600  a.d. 

Early  in  the  tenth  century,  one  such  antiquary  named 
Hsu  Hsiian,  a  retired  cavalry  colonel  of  the  guards, 
who  had  long  made  a  hobby  of  penmanship,  obtained  a 
rubbing  of  Chin's  tablet.  To  a  westerner,  at  first  sight, 
it  is  a  little  curious  to  find  a  soldier  devoting  himself  to 
such  literary  pursuits.  But  when  we  consider  how  some 
of  our  ex-colonels  spend  their  leisure,  we  may,  perhaps, 
think  it  more  praiseworthy  to  turn  to  letters  than  to 
advocate  some  novel  fad.  In  China,  too,  until  lately, 
the  avenue  to  all  rank  in  the  army  was  by  passing  exam- 
inations in  the  classics,  and  not  only  the  subject  matter 
of  these,  but  the  form, — in  the  most  explicit  sense,  the 
penmanship, — was  a  matter  of  great  importance;  so 
much  so,  that  the  Chinese  minister  at  London  himself 
painted  an  inscription  recently  for  an  exhibition.  Hsu 
Hsiian  then,  in  his  old  age,  merely  revived  the  studies  of 
his  youth,  which  he  had  never  intermitted.  Already  re- 
nowned for  his  beautiful  handwriting,  he  now  changed 
his  style,  and  modeled  it  anew  on  this  archaic  character. 
Evidently  his  influence  may  be  compared  to  those 
modern  type-founders  who  studied  the  masterpieces  of 
early  printers,  when  great  scholars  and  calligraphists 
were  enlisted  to  furnish  models  for  the  cutters,  so  that 


336  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

at  the  De  Vinne  press  we,  to-day,  have  antique  forms 
revived. 

Thus  Wen  Pao,  a  pupil  of  the  colonel,  fired  by  zeal, 
devoted  himself  to  this  branch  of  learning.  Having 
been  twice  plucked  when  trying  for  his  doctor's  degree, 
he  quitted  home  and  decided  to  seek  knowledge  in  first- 
hand investigation.  His  master  had  only  seen  the  rub- 
bing of  this  stone;  could  he  find  the  original?  For  ten 
days  he  roved  through  the  thickets  that  overspread  the 
mountain,  only  to  feel  at  the  end  of  his  search  that  the 
revered  record  was  lost  to  his  generation.  Imagine 
the  disappointment  of  the  scholar  who  had  heard  of  a 
Moabite  stone,  with  a  valuable  ancient  inscription,  but 
arrives  too  late  to  find  it  whole!  What  did  the  French 
Clermont-Ganneau  do  when  the  original  had  been  de- 
stroyed? He  fell  back  on  his  "squeeze"  and  with  its 
aid  he  reconstructed  the  stone,  working  in  the  fragments 
that  survived.  In  this  he  merely  trod  in  the  steps  of 
the  devoted  Wen  Pao,  when  the  Mountain  of  I  failed  to 
yield  up  the  original  tablet. 

Eighteen  years  elapsed  after  the  scholar's  fruitless 
search;  perhaps  the  examiners  accepted  his  thesis,  in- 
complete as  it  was,  and  granted  him  his  doctorate.  His 
foot  felt  the  rungs  of  the  official  ladder;  he  won  the 
decoration  of  the  Quiver  of  Red  Fishskin;  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  transport  department;  he  gained  a  pre- 
fecture ;  he  came  back  at  length  as  Minister  of  Religion 
— apparently  with  special  supervision  of  the  Christian 
churches — to  the  province  of  Shensi,  whose  capital  was 
Sianfu,  known  at  this  period  as  Chang-an,  where  is 
now  the  Forest  of  Monuments.     It  was  a  clear  call  of 


^  *  m  '&  m  337 

A  son  is  never  disgusted  with  his  father's  ugliness. 

Providence  to  resume  his  reverential  work,  and  in  the 
year  994  a.d.  he  took  his  precious  rubbing,  and  caused 
it  to  be  engraved  anew.  In  one  trifle  he  passed  an 
error,  a  variation  as  slight  as  that  from  a  to  an  inverted 
v,  which  has  given  the  meaning  "six"  where  the  sense 
demands  "great."  Then  to  the  reconstructed  text  he 
appended  the  history  of  the  original  and  of  his  repro- 
duction, and  presented  the  replica  to  the  university! 

This  monument  itself  is  now  in  its  tenth  century,  and 
deserves  study  both  for  its  own  sake  as  showing  the 
ideals  of  Wen  Pao's  age,  and  for  its  faithful  preserva- 
tion of  what  was  the  second  oldest  Chinese  inscription. 
Chin's  original  tablet  may  have  been  extant  in  the  days 
of  Colonel  Hsu,  but  if  the  archaeologist,  eager  to  win 
his  degrees,  could  not  find  it  a  generation  later,  it  is 
rather  hopeless  to  expect  it  still  survives  above  ground. 
But  the  Chinese  fidelity  in  copying,  which  has  passed 
into  a  proverb,  assures  us  that  we  may  rely  on  the  in- 
scription of  Wen  Pao. 

Who,  then,  is  equal  to  deciphering  and  translating 
it?  Chinese  scholars,  of  course,  we  appeal  to  first,  but 
even  in  that  land  of  classics,  those  who  can  make  any- 
thing of  these  antique  forms  are  few.  Even  to  recog- 
nize and  pronounce  them  is  a  difficult  achievement;  at  the 
court  of  Belshazzar  the  natives  had  to  call  in  a  learned 
foreigner  before  they  could  utter  the  sounds  correspond- 
ing to  the  script  upon  the  wall!  Then  to  construe  the 
ancient  language  into  the  vernacular  of  two  thousand 
years  later  is  another  problem ;  it  is  not  every  schoolboy 
nor  every  Doctor  of  Literature  who  could  render  into 


338 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


modern  English  the  laws  of  Alfred  or  the  Dooms  of 
Edward  the  Confessor. 

How  striking  it  is  then  to  hear  that  there  are  some 
few  western  scholars  who  have  mastered  this  venerable 
character  and  can  comprehend  its  ancient  diction. 
Three  of  these  have  been  good  enough  to  study  our 
rubbing  of  this  monument  for  the  purposes  of  this  book. 
Where  should  we  find  such  learning  and  such  kindness 
combined?  John  Wherry,  M.A.,  D.D.,  is  a  missionary, 
whose  talents  are  directed  to  literary  work  in  this  literary 
land.  Like  the  early  Persian  missionaries  whose  suc- 
cesses are  chronicled  in  the  Forest  of  Tablets,  he  is  busy 
at  Bible  translation,  but  has  found  time  to  make  a  ver- 
sion of  this  inscription.  But  with  that  modesty  that 
characterizes  the  truly  great,  he  desired  his  work  to  be 
checked  by  other  experts.  To  the  president  of  a  college 
he  turned,  and  in  Dr.  Sheffield  is  another  missionary 
grown  gray  in  his  arduous  toils.  From  Dr.  Sheffield  he 
looked  also  to  the  ex-president  of  the  Imperial  Univer- 
sity, a  grandsire  of  over  fourscore  years;  and  in  him 
behold  another  Presbyterian  missionary  like  himself, 
Dr.  Martin !  Here  in  the  land  where  of  all  others  liter- 
ary scholarship  is  esteemed,  the  Chinese  own  that  in  the 
front  rank  of  their  own  peculiar  studies  stand  three 
venerable  missionaries  from  abroad.  What  a  passport 
for  them  and  for  the  message  they  live  to  utter! 

Here,  then,  is  a  part  of  a  letter  sent  last  April  from 
Peking: 

"I  inclose  translations  of  both  the  seal  characters  and 
the  modern  script  of  the  Ch'in  tablet.  I  found  some 
difficulty  in  making  out  all  the  seal  characters,  but  by 


-nQDI  >fft  / 


^§5?M^#fe 


yggflgStflttSfiiTO 


iMfe" 


a/Sk  ™ 


apfe'aigri 


*  ^'teW  «;'*?«: 


'•w-OTfc 


AI»*f  2^  339 

A  parent  never  knows  his  son's  defects. 

patience  my  Chinese  writer  and  myself  have  at  last 
made  sure  of  every  one.  There  is  an  evident  error  in 
the  cutting  of  one  character,  that  is  "great"  for  "six." 
To  make  absolutely  sure  of  the  fidelity  to  the  original 
of  my  translation,  I  showed  it  to  both  Dr.  Martin  and 
to  Dr.  Sheffield.  Both  after  careful  study  approved 
of  it  as  faithful  both  in  letter  and  spirit.  Dr.  Martin 
thinks  the  tablet  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  relics  of 
antiquity.  You  will  see  that  it  is  Ch'in  Shih  Huang's 
own  apology  for  assuming  imperial  power.  .  .  . 

"The  originals  are  both  delicate  compositions,  and  it 
would  be  easy  to  destroy  the  spirit  in  translation.  Dr. 
Martin's  and  Dr.  Sheffield's  approval  of  my  translation 
extends  to  the  language  as  well  as  the  substance.  .  .  ." 

Now  we  introduce  the  version  for  which  these  three 
distinguished  scholars  stand  sponsors: 

Translation  of  the  Ch'in  Tablet, 
Forest  of  Monuments,  Sianfu 

"When  our  August  Sovereign  first  set  up  his  kingdom, 
His  seat  was  at  Feng.  At  His  succession  He  assumed  the 
title  of  Prince,  and  planned  measures  to  suppress  disorder 
and  rebellion  in  the  States.  His  majestic  bearing  inspired 
awe  to  the  four  borders.  He  was  martial,  public-spirited, 
straightforward,  upright.  His  ministers  of  war  receiving 
the  royal  mandate,  in  a  brief  time  put  an  end  to  the  great 
tyrannical  and  overbearing  states.  In  His  twenty-sixth  year 
He  conferred  on  His  Ancestors  the  August  Title  (Emperor) 
— a  brilliant  illustration  of  filial  duty.  Having  presented 
this  offering  of  Grand  Achievement,  He  conferred  on  the 
empire  special  benefits  of  His  own.  In  person  He  made  a 
tour  of  inspection  to  distant  parts  of  His  dominions. 


340  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

"When  He  had  ascended  Mount  I,  His  ministerial  retinue 
with  one  mind  turned  their  thoughts  to  the  distant  past. 
Looking  backwards  they  recalled  the  former  ages  when 
men  first  partitioned  the  soil  and  founded  states,  thus  open- 
ing the  way  to  the  reign  of  strife,  in  which  new  wars  arose 
daily,  and  blood  flowed  on  battlements  in  streams.  From 
the  beginning  in  remote  antiquity,  succession  to  the  throne 
had  never  descended  beyond  a  few  generations ;  and  down 
to  the  Five  Sovereigns  none  had  been  able  to  stay  this  per- 
petual change.  Only  from  the  present  onward,  now  that 
imperial  power  is  unified  in  a  single  line,  will  wars  cease  to 
arise.  With  the  calamitous  Chou  blotted  out,  the  black- 
haired  people  will  live  in  quiet  and  peace.  The  advantages 
and  benefits  secured  to  them  will  long  endure. 

"The  brief  eulogy  of  the  reign  prepared  by  the  ministers 
was  at  first  confined  to  the  musical  odes  in  which  His  enter- 
prises and  achievements  were  set  forth.  The  Emperor  said, 
'Only  a  commemorative  stone  is  adequate  to  the  First  Emper- 
or's administration.  Now  that  I  have  adopted  the  Imperial 
title,  unless  early  inscription  on  monumental  stone  celebrate 
the  far-reaching  benevolence  of  the  First  Emperor,  the  suc- 
cessors to  the  administration  will  not  acknowledge  My 
meritorious  achievements  and  abounding  virtues.'  His 
prime  minister  (Li  Ssu),  His  minister  Ch'u  Chi,  and  His 
minister  and  censor  and  officer  Ten,  braving  death,  begged 
permission  to  inscribe  a  stone  in  accordance  with  the  decree 
just  pronounced,  and  thus  to  show  forth  the  splendors  of 
this  newly  risen  Orb  of  Day.  Braving  death  the  ministers  so 
prayed :  the  rescript  said,  'So  let  it  be !'  " 

Appendix  to  the  Seal  Characters  of  the  Ch'in  Tablet 

"The  tablet  at  Mount  I,  the  inscription  on  which  was 
written  by  Ch'in's  prime  minister,  Li  Ssu,  should,  both  by 
its  uniqueness  and  its  antiquity,  be  highly  prized  by  all  the 


*5  m  m  m  #  tu  m  *  m  %,  &    341 

The  cleverest  wife  cannot  make  congee  without  rice. 

world.  The  late  commander  of  the  Light  Horse  Guard, 
Mr.  Hsu  Hsiian,  who  had  for  nearly  half  a  century  taken 
the  keenest  delight  in  caligraphy,  in  which  in  his  age  he  had 
no  peer,  in  his  late  years  obtained  possession  of  a  rubbing 
of  the  Mount  I  tablet.  Thenceforth,  modeling  his  penman- 
ship on  this  rubbing,  he  felt  himself  soaring  to  the  border 
land  between  gods  and  men.  On  this  account  (he  ordered 
X's)  antique  relics  to  be  burned  or  thrown  away. 

"I,  Wen  Pao,  schooled  at  the  Gate  of  Hsu,  and  in  a 
measure  stimulated  to  emulate  his  course,  in  the  spring  of 
the  fifth  year  of  the  era  T'ai  P'ing  Hsing  Kuo,1  having  for 
the  second  time  failed  to  attain  a  Doctor's  Degree,  set  out 
eastward  to  Ch'i  and  Lu.  On  a  visit  to  the  city  of  (Tsou), 
I  ascended  Mount  I  to  look  for  the  Ch'in  tablet.  It  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen.  For  ten  full  days,  with  painful  anxiety, 
I  groped  in  a  jungle  of  thorns  and  weeds,  only  in  the  end 
to  sigh  that  so  divine  a  relic  should  be  lost  to  the  world. 

"I  have  now  had  the  rubbing  which  I  received  from  Hsu 
engraved  on  stone  for  the  School  of  the  Sons  of  the  Nation, 
at  the  old  capital  Chang-an.  It  may  serve  as  an  index  to 
men  of  learning  and  culture,  of  the  spirit  of  the  old-time 
scholar. 

"This  record  is  made  on  the  fifteenth  day  of 
the  eighth  moon  of  the  fourth  year  of  the  era 
Ch'un  Hua2  by  Cheng  Wen  Pao,  by  imperial 
appointment  Prefect  and  Minister  of  Rites  of 
West  ...  in  Shen  Fu  .  .  .  land,  Assistant 
Controller    of    Transport    products,    decorated 

with  the  Red  Fishskin  Quiver." 
1  a.d.  976. 
2a.d.  994. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

In  the  Panhandle  of  China:  Kanchow 

"The  lies  of  Liangchow  are  great :    but : 
The  lies  of  Kanchow  are  greater." 

— Old  Saying. 

Loath  to  leave  lovely  Liangchow  and  its  Eight  Won- 
ders, the  mule-litter  caravan  drew  slowly  out  of  the  city 
at  cock-crowing  and  set  off  on  the  long  journey  to 
Kanchow,  Suchow  and  the  western  end  of  the  Great 
Wall.  Before  the  setting  of  the  first  sun  we  had  occa- 
sion to  record  "A  day  of  fords";  eighty  times  the  ani- 
mals waded  through  snow-water  fresh  from  the  lofty 
mountains  on  our  left.  And  this  though  the  high  road 
has  for  centuries  been  traversed  daily — Sundays  not 
excepted — by  long  caravans  of  camels  and  divers  other 
beasts  of  burden. 

Outside  the  East  Gate  of  Yungchang  one  of  our  in- 
terpreters announced  an  "oil  tablet."  The  interest 
awakened  led  us  to  pay  a  hasty  visit  to  the  oil  tablet. 
What  had  it  to  say  about  a  certain  American  corpora- 
tion and  the  illustrious  founder?  For  we  reasoned  there 
can  be  no  oil  tablet  without  mention  of  those  famous 
names  perhaps  even  in  prophecy,  if  the  tablet  be  ancient. 
The  tablet  stood  on  a  stone  tortoise  by  the  roadside,  and 
passing  carters  dropped  on  its  hard  nose  a  sphere  of  oil 
to  insure  "good  luck."  Beyond  the  West  Gate  of  Yung- 
chang two  picturesque  pagodas  occupy  geomantic  sites. 

342 


*  m  *  #  *  m  *  &         343 

If  the  pennies  do  not  go,  the  pounds  will  not  come. 

One  is  designed  to  prevent  sand  submerging  a  city  one 
hundred  and  forty  li  away!  Between  the  desert  and  the 
threatened  city  is  a  mountain  range  and  the  Great 
Wall!  .  .  . 

The  Great  Wall  passes  through  four  states  or  prov- 
inces. Kansu  is  the  most  western.  It  is  also  a  province 
of  skeletons ;  numerous  towns  have  been  abandoned ;  the 
walls  still  standing  present  a  scene  of  desolation  not 
easily  forgotten.  Several  times  we  came  upon  walled 
cities,  as  we  supposed,  only  to  find  neither  buildings  nor 
people  inside  the  battlements.  Doubtless  certain  of 
these  were  primarily  protected  camps,  but  many  were 
thickly  populated  walled  towns  wasted  by  the  scourge 
of  war.  Over  the  East  Gate  of  one,  carved  in  stone, 
was  the  motto,  "Lift  up  your  thoughts." 

Near  Sin  Ho,  and  between  the  ruins  of  the  Great 
Wall  and  the  mountains,  herds  of  graceful  antelopes 
expressed  appreciation  of  the  good  grass.  On  our 
approach  they  cleared  the  Great  Wall  and  made  off  for 
a  distant  ridge,  when  a  Winchester  procured  delicious 
meat  for  our  next  meal.  .  .  .  The  Great  Wall,  once 
incased  in  brick  and  stone,  exhibits  now  only  the  loess 
core.  Its  course  is  in  a  wide  and  lofty  valley,  over 
broken  hills  and  upon  mountains;  frequently  follow- 
ing the  line  of  least  natural  resistance.  At  Sin  Ho  a 
rustic,  when  asked  why  the  people  do  not  repair  the 
Boundary  Wall,  replied,  "We  cannot  repair  our  own 
city,  how  then  the  Great  Wall? — only  eighty  families 
live  in  Sin  Ho!"  He  also  ventured  the  assertion  that 
the  mammoth  Barrier  was  built  to  prevent  a  barbarian 


344  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

race  on  the  north  bringing  their  mules  and  donkeys  in 
to  eat  peas! 

The  Temple  of  the  Broken  Stomach  was  the  next 
sight.  Carpenters  were  repairing  it,  for  a  priest  had 
tramped  about  the  country  awakening  the  faithful  to 
their  duty.  In  former  times  these  fanatics  drove  nails 
into  their  flesh  and  otherwise  worked  on  the  sympathy 
of  the  devotees  to  obtain  cash  for  the  gods.  Through 
rain  we  pushed  on  to  the  interesting  city  of  Kanchow. 
There  are  four  "Joes"  as  the  word  "Chows"  is  pro- 
nounced, Liangchow,  Kanchow,  Suchow  and  Lanchow. 
— all  cities  of  some  importance.  All  have  had  to  con- 
tend with  the  disasters  of  rebellion. 

Kanchow  originally  stood  beside  the  Great  Boundary. 
We  were  unable  to  learn  why  it  was  moved  to  its  pres- 
ent site,  unless  it  be  for  the  good  luck  of  the  present 
location.  Such  is  the  local  opinion,  though  a  western 
traveler  may  dwell  on  evidence  to  the  contrary.  Here 
are  mosquito-breeding,  miasmatic  swamps  in  the  midst 
of  the  city!  Here  are  curing  hides  strung  along  the 
streets  drying  in  the  sun  and  incidentally  emitting  odors 
of  a  substantial  kind!  Here  are  open  street  sewers 
giving  out  a  stench  which  suggests  the  immediate  pres- 
ence of  the  East  and  West  Hell  Temples.  Do  these 
conditions  preserve  the  good  luck  of  a  metropolis? 
Many  maladies  oppress  the  people  in  this  dusty,  dirty, 
sin-cursed  city.  Travelers  fifty  li  off  can  tell  the  loca- 
tion of  Kanchow  by  the  dust  that  usually  hangs  over 
the  place.  The  Chinese  take  seriously  a  conundrum 
often  heard  in  the  streets,  "What  is  it  the  more  you 
wash  it  the  dirtier  it  becomes?"     Answer,   "Water!" 


&  n  t  m  m  t>  7  &        345 

A  doctor  may  cure  disease,  but  he  cannot  cure  fate 

Little  water  is  used.  The  city  should  be  moved  back  to 
its  original  site  beside  the  Great  Wall,  where  the  fifteen 
thousand  families  might  live  to  a  good  old  age. 

Dust  and  dirt  are  found  everywhere  in  China,  and 
the  hirsute  customs  of  the  people  hardly  form  much 
safeguard  against  their  carrying  germs  into  mouth  and 
nose.  The  beards  are  too  straggly  to  act  as  sieves, 
though  they  may  perhaps  gather  up  many  microbes. 
But  the  queues!  It  is  quite  impossible  to  cleanse  these, 
and  the  one  point  of  comfort  is  that  they  hang  behind 
and  do  not  introduce  their  inhabitants  to  the  lungs.  If 
the  Chinese  only  shake  their  own  hands,  and  never  kiss 
one  another,  they,  to  this  extent,  impede  the  general 
circulation  of  the  dust. 

The  Hsien  Yamen  was  polite  and  cordial  and  fur- 
nished us  the  following  information:  "This  is  a  rich 
agricultural  region, — wheat,  peas,  beans,  melons,  are  all 
raised  in  quantities.  .  .  .  Opium  raising  is  decreasing, 
although  this  year  ten  thousand  Chinese  acres  are  culti- 
vated. .  .  .  When  manufactures  are  spoken  of,  Kan 
Chow  is  famous  for  woolen  bags  used  for  transporting 
goods  on  camels  and  mules,  exported  at  the  rate  of  ten 
thousand  a  year.  The  bags  are  coarse  and  durable. 
Licorice  is  also  exported,  but  in  no  large  quantities. 
Hemp  is  extensively  cultivated  and  linseed  oil  is  pro- 
duced. A  few  years  ago  a  large  trade  was  done  in  hogs' 
bristles,  which  were  sent  to  the  coast  and  shipped  to 
foreign  countries,  but  this  trade,  for  some  apparently 
unknown  reason,  has  disappeared.  Sheep  and  goat 
skins  are  dealt  in  and  incense  is  manufactured  in  large 


346  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

quantities  near  the  North  Gate  of  the  city.    Googhee  is 
also  exported  in  large  quantities. 

The  city  is  noted  far  and  wide  for  its  lies !  We,  there- 
fore, despatched  one  of  our  attendants  to  visit  all  the 
temples  and  report  on  the  religious  teaching  and  wor- 
ship in  the  city.  For  we  held  that  a  decay  in  the  virtue 
of  truth  telling  is  likely  traceable  to  some  lack  in  the 
practice  of  religion.  He  brought  in  the  following  list 
of  religious  houses:  Temple  of  the  Present  Dynasty, 
City  Guardian  Temple,  Dragon  King  Temple,  Earth 
Lord  Temple,  Three  Stars  Temple,  Two  Bridegrooms 
Temple,  Eight  Candle  Temple,  White  Garments  Mon- 
astery, Three  Officials  Temple,  Temple  of  the  Great 
White  Horse  God  Temple,  Cow  God  Temple,  Temple 
of  Literature,  Fire  God  Temple,  Monastery  of  the 
Universal  Door,  East  Hell  Temple,  Loyal  Chaste 
Monastery,  East  Hell  Temple,  Abundant  Virtue  Mon- 
astery, Wind  God  Temple,  Protect  the  Righteous 
Temple,  and  a  Temple  to  the  Goddess  of  Mercy! 

He  also  reported  on  the  schools  of  the  city.  He 
found  three  important  places  of  instruction,  namely: 
Sweet  Spring  School,  High  Class  Small  School,  and 
Exhortation  to  Study  School;  also  many  small  low- 
grade  schools.  An  effort  is  making  for  modern  edu- 
cation but  a  real  difficulty  obtains  when  suitable  teachers 
are  sought,  as  two  schools  are  actively  experiencing. 

From  this  myrmidon  and  his  report,  we  turned  to  the 
other  and  culled  this  typical  extract  from  his  diary: 

"The  men  of  my  country,  their  mouths  are  like  living 
fountains.  Even  those  things  they  do  not  know  they  fool- 
ishly speak  about  with  their  whole  heart.     On  the  road  we 


-%  • 


-  vsi* 


?:% 


a  #  <fe  :*  T  &  *  U7 

Distant  water  cannot  quench  a  near  fire. 

passed  a  man:  I  asked  him  about  the  Ten  Thousand  Li 
Long  Wall.  He  replied,  'Chin  Shih  Huang  built  the  Long 
Wall.  He  walked  his  horse,  named  "Mount  the  Clouds." 
He  ascended  heaven  and  went.'  (He  then  told  me  of  a  tree 
in  heaven.  I  had  heard  many  suns  before  about  it,  but  this 
mouth  told  me  better.)  Heaven  had  one  frost  tree  which 
was  shaken.  The  Frost  Tree  Frost  descended.  In  the  sixth 
moon  the  green  sprouts  in  the  field  for  this  reason  by  the 
Frost  Tree,  so  it  took  the  green  sprouts  and  froze  them  to 
death. 

"The  common  people  because  of  their  unbounded  straits 
and  bitterness,  Shih  Huang  then  used  the  people  to  build 
the  Wall.  Necessities  for  food  he  did  not  give ;  he  took  the 
people  and  put  them  to  death  in  the  Wall  with  bitterness 
without  number.  After  this,  time  after  time  there  were 
words  which  came  down  from  those  who  falsely  knew 
about  it." 

Kanchow  we  found  famous  not  only  for  lies,  but  also 
for  legends — perhaps  a  distinction  without  a  difference. 
The  legends  often  related  to  the  Great  Barrier,  which 
looms  large  on  the  landscape,  here  unadorned  by  brick 
or  stone  incasing,  a  naked  core  of  loess;  the  dry  fog 
condensed,  compressed,  carven  and  conspicuous.  How 
could  this  vast  relic  of  the  centuries  not  serve  to  pre- 
cipitate the  folk-lore  of  the  ages?  Our  ubiquitous 
friend,  John  Gwadey,  Esq.,  entertained  our  inquisitive 
minds  with  a  mixture  of  fact  and  fiction: 

"In  the  early  days  when  Chin  the  Mighty  was  receiv- 
ing visitors,  he  always  used  to  sit  with  a  great  sword 
bared  on  his  lap.  Once  a  man  came  to  present  the  head 
of  an  enemy  for  which  a  reward  had  been  offered;  it 


348  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

was  but  a  ruse  to  reach  the  emperor  and  stab  him.  The 
monarch  was,  however,  too  quick  for  the  assassin,  and 
with  one  terrible  blow  he  severed  his  assailant's  left  leg." 
Be  it  remembered  that  in  real  truth  there  were  at  least 
two  serious  attempts  to  take  the  life  of  the  man  who 
had  used  up  the  lives  of  so  many.  As  to  the  fable  that 
Chin  had  wished  to  inter  a  million  men  within  the  Wall, 
John  Gwadey  had  the  original  explanation  that  the 
purpose  was  to  insure  its  endurance  as  long  as  the  lives 
of  the  million.     Hear  him: 

"The  Great  Emperor  was  always  prone  to  novelty 
and  intended  that  the  Wall  should  last  forever.  If  he 
could  bury  a  million  men  in  it,  it  would  endure  first  for  a 
million  years ;  then  the  million  spirits  which  had  attained 
their  freedom  would  watch  and  guard  the  mighty 
Barrier  against  the  evil  spirits  from  the  north,  and 
against  any  earthly  enemy.  But,  great  as  he  was,  he 
did  not  care  to  destroy  so  many  people,  as  his  wars  had 
already  slain  so  many.  So,  instead  of  taking  a  million 
separate  men,  he  took  one  man  with  the  cognomen  of 
'Million,'  and  with  suitable  ceremonies  immolated  him 
to  the  gods."  The  scheme  was  ingenious,  but  the  deities 
of  that  age  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  lax  in  their 
requirements,  or  somewhat  easily  hoodwinked.  No 
wonder  such  gods  are  a  little  out  of  date. 

Kanchow  now  has  but  one  church.  In  the  days  of 
Marco  Polo  it  had  three  Christian  churches,  all  Nes- 
torian.  He  divided  the  population  into  three  classes: 
Heathen  (pagans),  Mohammedans,  Christians.  The 
churches,  in  his  phrase,  were  "beautiful  and  great." 
That  was  between  1274  and  1291  a.d.,  at  which  time 


B§  PS  H  §t  349 

Waiting  for  the  battle  before  whetting  your  sword. 

Kanchow  was  twenty  li  from  its  present  site,  and  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Black  River,  where  in  the  gravel 
to  this  day  foundations  are  easily  discernible,  but  these 
have  not  been  excavated.  In  1355  an  imperial  decree, 
one  of  the  hospitable  priests  told  us,  was  issued  in  the 
following  language :  "The  Church  of  the  Cross  in  Kan- 
chow, in  the  province  of  Kansu,  has  the  body  (corpse) 
of  the  Empress  Sorhahtani,  mother  of  Kublai  Khan. 
We  pray  you  make  sacrifice  to  her  (body) ."  The  one 
church  of  the  present,  conducted  by  the  Belgian  mis- 
sion, reports  eight  hundred  adherents  among  whom  are 
merchants,  farmers  and  coolies.  Two  priests  are  con- 
verting the  heathen  to  the  church.  They  are  hardwork- 
ing and  sanely  aggressive. 

There  is  much  to  write  about  the  lies  of  Kanchow; 
the  wonderful  well,  the  tree  that  took  children  up  to 
heaven,  the  resurrections  that  have  occurred  in  Kan- 
chow; and  scores  of  other  yarns.  But  a  Tibetan  prince 
called  on  us,  indeed,  twice  came  to  visit;  and  as  we  are 
having  more  and  more  interest  in  the  people  who  popu- 
late the  Roof  of  the  World,  our  space  goes  to  him. 

The  Tibetan  prince,  six  feet  some  inches  tall,  power- 
fully built,  great  cheek  bones,  heroic  but  downtrodden, 
exhibited  possibilities  of  freedom,  logic  and  religion  fit 
for  the  work  of  diplomacy,  philanthropy,  and  war. 
How  can  we  look  at  this  fine  specimen  of  physical  man, 
the  victim  of  the  foreign  drug,  opium,  and  not  be  sorry? 
Foreigners  have  hardly  prevailed  to  enter  Tibet,  but 
the  foreigner's  curse,  opium,  has  entered.  Opium  is 
more  subtle  than  the  politician ;  the  product  of  occidental 


350  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

commerce  is  superior  in  craftiness  to  him  who  produces 
and  circulates  it. 

This  chieftain  desired  to  be  rid  of  this  habit.  He 
reminds  me  of  the  best,  the  very  best,  of  the  American 
Indian  chiefs.  The  missionaries  will  furnish  him  their 
medicine  if  he  will  come  to  them  for  it,  but  he  lives  away 
off  there  between  two  mountain  ranges.  He  says  he 
lives  in  Tibet,  but  the  Chinese  who  are  more  powerful 
have  pushed  the  boundary  to  suit  themselves,  and  de- 
clare he  lives  in  the  Panhandle  of  China!  And  what 
can  he  do,  this  prince  of  Tibet?  He  asked  to  see  and  to 
purchase  my  automatic  guns.  Any  price  he  could  com- 
mand would  be  paid  us  for  them.  We  refused  to  sell, 
and  he  was  sad.  Speaking  of  the  Chinese,  the  chieftain 
said,  "Their  hearts  are  not  good  although  their  words 
are.  We  barbarians  cannot  compete  with  them;  they 
are  too  subtle."  After  a  long  conversation  during 
which  he  told  us  of  the  deer  in  the  tip  of  whose  horn  is 
found  the  precious  ball  of  blood  of  such  value  as 
medicine  that  only  millionaires  and  emperors  can  com- 
mand it,  he  invited  us  to  come  over  "between  the  moun- 
tain ranges"  and  be  his  guest.  We  had  a  desire  to  visit 
this  mysterious  valley  but  declined.  Then,  most  im- 
pressively he  asked,  "Tell  me  truly,  what  makes  foreign- 
ers so  powerful?"  So  seriously  spoken  was  this,  and 
with  such  profound  spirit  of  inquiry,  that  we  found 
ourselves  awakened  to  a  great  desire  to  lend  him  a  hand. 
We  felt  bound  to  truthfully  answer  his  question.  After 
speaking  of  modern  education,  inventions,  parliaments, 
schemes  for  rapid  transit  and  so  forth,  we  urged  last 
and  most  important,  the  Christian  religion!    Which  we 


k  m  m  m  m  m  m  &  #  m      351 

With    fire  enough   you   can   cook  anything,    with 
money  enough  you  can  do  anything. 

plainly  told  the  Tibetan  prince  made  the  difference  in 
character,  and  that  character  is  the  first  asset  of  any 
people. 

Before  leaving  Kanchow,  we  had  occasion  to  call  at  a 
native  bank  and  cash  a  draft.  The  business  was  con- 
ducted with  despatch.  The  head  of  this  bank  which 
"turns  over,"  in  this  city  alone,  a  sum  total  of  over  two 
hundred  thousand  taels  per  year,  is  a  member  of  a  very 
wealthy  and  prominent  family  of  bankers  who  have 
banks  in  various  cities  throughout  the  empire.  The 
young  man  is  himself  rich  and  well  educated,  of  bril- 
liant intellectual  parts,  a  naturally  progressive  Chinese. 
He  has  admiration  for  foreigners.  This  is  the  result  of 
his  meeting  a  missionary  of  the  China  Inland  Mission 
who  was  using  a  camera.  Photography  caught  the 
banker's  fancy ;  he  ordered  a  camera  for  himself.  Later 
he  saw  the  foreigners'  sewing  machine  and  sent  off  to 
America  for  one.  Then  he  asked  about  the  foreigner's 
books.  The  mission  worker  presented  him  with  a  Bible. 
He  began  to  study  it,  and  after  fifteen  moons  of  study 
the  banker  applied  for  admission  to  the  Christian 
church.  He  created  a  sensation  when  in  the  presence 
of  the  wealthy  members  of  his  father's  family  and  cul- 
tured friends  he  joined  the  Christian  church.  This 
occurred  in  Shansi  under  the  ministry  of  John  Falls, 
Esq.  He  has  now  come  out  into  this  important  far 
western  city  to  take  over  the  presidency  of  the  big  bank 
and  has  brought  his  anti-opium  and  other  Christian 
principles  with  him. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

The  Panhandle  of  China.    The  City  of  Su 

The  Panhandle  of  China  is  the  land  of  rhubarb, 
whence  originally  came  the  whole  stock  of  that  edible 
on  this  planet.  As  we  journeyed  from  Kanchow  to 
Suchow,  the  most  westerly  city  of  the  Central  Kingdom,1 
our  course  lay  for  more  than  two  hundred  li  between 
the  Great  Boundary  and  Rhubarb  Mountain.  Yet,  be 
it  known,  that  the  Chinese  value  this,  not  as  the  raw 
material  for  rhubarb  pie,  but  as  a  drug;  and  they  actu- 
ally thought  at  the  time  of  the  Opium  Wars  that  by 
ceasing  to  export  it,  they  could  bring  the  West  to 
terms. 

Ten  feet  high  do  the  stalks  grow,  and  one  root  has 
been  known  to  weigh  fifty  pounds.  Up  the  mountain 
side,  on  the  flats,  in  the  marshes,  this  sturdy  plant 
strikes  deep,  and  adorns  the  earth  with  its  white  blos- 
soms. The  Chinese  prefer  to  gather  the  older  roots, 
and  of  them  prefer  the  male  plants ;  removing  the  rind 
or  bark,  they  dry  the  roots  for  export.  For  themselves, 
they  esteem  it  as  equal  to  Googhee  and  Boho  for 
strength  and  certainty. 

We  were  fortunate  enough  to  find  one  western  family 
who  were  primitive  enough  to  treat  it  in  western  style 
and  serve  a  real  old-fashioned  rhubarb  pie,  recalling  the 
delights  of  boyhood.     Nor  was  this  the  only  luscious 

1  I.e.,  of  the  eighteen  provinces. 

352 


%  ir  %  m  r\  *q  m  %  t  #      353 

A   scholar  without  going  outside  his  door  knows 
everything  under  heaven. 

eatable  of  the  district;  melons  and  onions  of  the  most 
delicious  flavor  and  in  great  quantity  claim  favorable 
notice. 

We  have  been  interested  to  notice  with  what  rever- 
ence bread  is  picked  up  if  by  chance  or  design  we 
dropped  even  crumbs.  On  not  a  few  occasions  have  we 
purposely  thrown  away  the  outer  skin  of  the  little  round 
steamed  loaves,  and  every  time  would  promptly  come 
some  man  or  child  to  carefully  gather  up  the  crumbs 
that  none  be  lost.  .  .  .  The  fragments  were  sacred, 
and  we  remembered  the  words  of  the  Greatest  Master, 
"gather  up  the  fragments  that  none  be  lost."  We 
emptied  cake  bits  and  hard  crumbs  out  of  our  hunting 
coat  pockets  for  the  sole  purpose  of  cleaning  the  cloth, 
but  a  full-grown  man,  well  dressed  and  polite,  picked 
up  the  bits  one  by  one !  Bread  seems  almost  as  precious 
to  a  Chinese  as  printed  paper,  and  what  more  can  we 
say? 

Since  leaving  the  Yellow  River  at  the  Shansi  line,  we 
have  followed  the  Long  Wall,  at  a  high  altitude; 
Suchow,  where  we  now  are,  is  at  a  great  height.  The 
city  is  famous  for  the  jade  articles  produced;  four  thou- 
sand families  populate  the  last  city  along  the  Great 
Wall  and  certain  families  claim  an  hereditary  right  to 
work  in  jade.  We  made  some  inquiries  about  jade  and 
purchased  certain  articles  creditably  wrought,  but  our 
chief  interest  still  lay  in  the  Long  Wall. 

This  whole  region,  as  one  would  expect,  is  rife  with 
legends  about  the  work  of  Chin.  And  when  John 
Gwadey,  Esq.,  turned  up  with  the  tale  of  a  wonderful 

33 


354  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

dog  of  Chin,  we  were  ready  to  attend.  The  valuable 
canine  seems  to  have  possessed,  in  addition  to  dog  sense, 
some  human  sense,  with  the  further  adornment  of  sense 
not  found  in  humans.  To  quote  Gwadey:  "Chin,  the 
First  Emperor,  had  a  wonderful  dog.  It  was  as  large  as 
a  Suchow  cow!  It  had  a  chameleon  skin,  but  of  a  new 
kind.  Instead  of  its  changing  color  according  to  the 
object  it  was  on,  it  suited  the  light  or  the  night,  by  be- 
coming black  at  night  and  red  in  the  daytime.  The  Red 
Cog  was  blessed  with  miraculous  nostrils,  for  it  could 
smell  out  bad  officials.  China  is  now  badly  in  need  of 
a  supply  of  red  dogs!  If  an  official  did  not  mend  his 
ways  after  a  few  preliminary  hint  bites,  the  Red  Dog 
simply  bit  him  to  death.  The  tail  of  Chin's  dog  was 
endowed.  It  told  Chin  what  persons  who  were  talking 
with  him  were  really  thinking  about.  A  most  danger- 
ous sort  of  instinct.  With  his  head  the  dog  understood 
and  with  his  tail,  by  a  system  of  signals,  he  informed 
his  master.  The  dog,  furthermore,  had  long  ears  and 
could  understand  any  language,  and  acted  for  Chin  as 
an  interpreter  with  his  tail.  When  Chin  died  the  dog 
died.  By  one  wag  of  his  tail  he  knew  Chin's  son  would 
be  no  good.  The  eyes  of  the  dog  at  times  were  invisible ! 
At  other  times  they  shone  like  two  bright  lamps."  We 
have  pictured  the  dog  bearing  down  on  a  helpless 
official  at  night  like  an  automobile. 

The  traveler  experiences  considerable  difficulty  when 
he  attempts  to  obtain  information  of  their  city  from  the 
citizens.  This  is  easily  accounted  for.  The  frequent 
rebellions  nearly  destroyed  the  inhabitants.  Even  now 
only  twenty  out  of  a  hundred  are  of  local  birth.    But 


m  m  m  w  n  355 

Money  covers  many  sins. 

however  little  people  know  about  their  city,  they  are 
ever  ready  to  talk  about  the  Big  Boundary.  The  dog 
of  Chin  was  a  good  animal  story  and  it  was  followed  by 
the  tale  of  the  black  hare. 

Chin  had  a  dream  wherein  he  saw  two  hares,  one  of 
which  caught  the  sun  in  its  arms.  The  other,  displeased 
by  this  performance,  strove  for  possession  of  the  orb 
of  day.  ...  A  black  hare  appeared  on  the  scene,  sep- 
arated the  combatants,  and  took  away  the  sun.  Chin 
summoned  the  wise  men  the  next  day  and  demanded  of 
them,  on  pain  of  death,  the  interpretation  of  the  vision. 
The  statesmen  guessed  it  signified  that  the  two  warring 
kingdoms  of  China  would  be  subdued  by  the  Black  Tar- 
tars, and  urged  Chin  to  build  the  Great  Wall.  He  built 
the  Wall  and  issued  a  decree  that  should  have  perpetual 
force,  that  in  the  present  and  all  future  time  any  man 
taking  a  nap  on  the  Wall  should  be  buried  alive  in  the 
construction ! 

One  good  story  provokes  another,  and  while  we  were 
supping  our  gruel  other  travelers  came  in  and  contrib- 
uted their  quota.  Unfortunately,  their  imaginations 
or  their  memories  were  slow  to  work.  "How  long  is  the 
Great  Wall?"  "I  feel  it,  and  can't  get  at  it."  "What 
do  you  think  of  Chin?"    "He  was  a  military  king." 

The  same  queries  put  to  another  man  at  lunch  elicited 
the  opinions  that  the  Great  Wall  was  endless,  there 
being  no  east  end  and  no  west,  and  that  Chin  was  a  bad 
emperor.  The  notion  of  an  endless  Wall  tickled  our 
fancy,  it  reminded  us  of  the  Irish  sailor,  who,  after 
hauling    inboard    a    few    hundred    fathoms    of    line, 


356  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

scratched  his  poll  and  soliloquized,  "Some  haythen 
naygur  must  have  cut  the  end  off!"  In  the  multitude 
of  councilors  there  is  safety,  and  we  tried  a  third  diner: 
he  responded,  "It  is  called  the  Ten-Thousand-Zi-Long 
Wall,  but  it  is  longer  than  that,  maybe  forty  thousand, 
maybe  a  hundred  thousand."  A  fourth  had  limited 
powers  of  arithmetic,  and  could  only  profess  agnosti- 
cism: "No,  it  has  no  end,  it  has  no  feet  or  inches.  It  was 
built  over  ten  thousand  years  ago.  How  do  I  know  the 
height  of  the  Great  Wall,  whether  outside  or  inside?" 

On  the  road  we  had  found  less  ignorance,  but  the 
accuracy  of  the  information  is  not  warranted.  A  man 
at  Ta  Kia  Tsa  knew  that  Chin  had  built  it,  but  dated  it 
only  eight  centuries  ago. 

"How  long  did  it  take?" 

"No  time  at  all;  he  rode  a  strange  horse  which  made 
the  valleys  and  hills  equal;  where  his  horse's  hoofs  trod, 
the  Wall  sprang  up." 

"Did  he  not  use  men  to  build  it?" 

"Yes,  but  I  do  not  understand  how;  so  the  old  men 
told  us." 

How  often  "the  old  men  told  us"  serves  as  stamp  to 
give  currency  to  obvious  idiocies !  Great  is  the  power  of 
tradition,  and  little  its  value. 

"How  many  hands  worked  on  it?" 

"There  were  thousands  of  mouths  working  there." 

Capital!  Did  they  work  at  eating  or  at  talking? 
And  is  the  work  of  a  hand  or  a  mouth  more  useful? 

"How  did  they  get  the  Wall  across  the  Yellow 
River?" 


_    ■£ 


3    0 


357 

Lamb  though  sweet  does  not  suit  all  taste. 


#3tsi^&PHi 


"The  water  was  parted  for  a  hundred  li,  and  so  the 
masons  did  their  work." 

"Has  the  Wall  got  any  end  to  it?" 

"No,  it  is  a  circle,  and  the  Central  Kingdom  is  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  the  Wall." 

"What  else  do  you  know  about  Chin?" 

"Chin  passed  here  building  the  Great  Wall,  but  he 
has  never  come  back;  he  is  going  on  still." 

"How  do  you  know  that?" 

"There  was  God-breath  in  him." 

Evidently,  though  Chin's  body  lay  mouldering  in 
the  grave,  his  soul  goes  building  on. 

After  this  mass  of  legendary  lore,  it  was  a  relief  to 
get  back  to  more  solid  ground,  and  we  welcomed  the 
return  of  the  census  taker  who  had  gone  out  to  enumer- 
ate the  streets.  The  Drum  Tower  is  the  center  of  the 
city,  like  the  city  hall  at  Philadelphia;  from  it  radiate 
out  Great  North  Street,  Great  East  Street,  Great 
South  Street,  and  Great  West  Street.  Other  impor- 
tant thoroughfares  are  Official  Residence  Street,  Liter- 
ary Temple  Street,  Horse  God  Street,  Trinity  Tower 
Street  and  Red  Family  Street.  Then  come  a  group 
of  alleys:  Distilled  Liquor,  Head  Road,  Second  Road, 
Third  Road,  Fruit  Food,  and  thus  the  main  arterial 
system  ramified  to  the  suburbs.  Do  these  read  quaintly? 
Remember  how  a  Londoner  traverses  daily  many  roads 
with  equally  significant  names,  signifying  nothing.  Do 
armorers  live  in  St.  Mary  Axe,  in  Bucklers  Bury,  or  in 
Cannon  Street?  Can  you  market  for  dinner  in  the 
Poultry,  Camomile  Street,  Hounds  Ditch,  Corn  Hill, 


358  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Rolls  Court,  or  Cook  Lane?  May  you  expect  cavalry 
barracks  in  Knight  Rider  Street,  or  Gilt  Spur  Street? 
Do  you  look  for  a  prison  in  Fetter  Lane,  a  surgery  in 
Doctor's  Commons,  or  a  tailor  shop  in  Thread  Needle 
Street?  These  names  are  commonplace  to  him.  but  ring 
strangely  in  the  ears  of  a  foreigner. 

We  had  heard  about  Chin's  dog  with  a  certain  amount 
of  reserve  in  our  acceptance  of  the  tale.  Another  dog 
story  was  now  offered  for  our  consumption,  and  it  is 
duly  passed  on : 

Wang  was  a  man  who  used  an  alcoholic  beverage. 
After  heavily  drinking  he  fell  asleep  and  was  soundly 
slumbering  in  the  wild  countryside,  when  some  natives 
set  the  long  grass  afire.  As  the  encircling  conflagra- 
tion closed  in  about  the  drunken  Wang,  it  threatened 
to  burn  him  to  death.  It  would  have  consumed  Wang 
but  for  his  faithful  dog.  He,  seeing  the  danger,  ran 
to  the  river,  soaked  himself  with  water  and  then,  shaking 
himself  violently,  covered  his  master's  clothes  with  water 
and  thereby  saved  his  life!  Our  apparent  but  unin- 
tended ridicule  must  have  cut  short  the  story,  for  it 
seems  to  have  no  distinct  connection  with  the  Rampart. 

Reflecting  on  the  ignorance  of  the  people  here  and 
the  lonely  lot  of  the  Europeans  who  cast  in  their  lot  to 
raise  and  educate  them,  we  began  to  feel  that  special 
care  should  be  taken  to  supply  these  noble  exiles  with 
something  to  cheer  and  vary  their  life.  These  pioneers 
of  western  civilization  are  literally  spending  themselves 
in  their  attempt  to  help  the  Chinese;  at  this  time  of 
transition  the  populace  is  extremely  impressionable, 
and  a  little  impulse  may  effect  great  things  in  putting 


A&^mimgWB  359 

Men's  minds  are  as  unlike  as  their  faces. 

them  on  the  right  track.  The  Chinese  are  very  keen 
business  people,  and  have  a  sharp  eye  to  the  main 
chance;  believing  that  a  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two 
in  the  bush,  they  want  present,  visible  prosperity,  and 
will  not  defer  it  for  a  promise  to  pay  in  the  other  world. 
The  missionaries  are  quite  able  to  meet  them  on  this 
very  ground;  there  are  precepts  that  will  appeal  to  the 
oriental. 

"Active  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,"  they  already 
are;  to  be  also  "serving  the  Lord"  is  quite  in  line  with 
the  others.  Once  convince  a  Chinese  that  godliness  is 
profitable  for  the  life  that  now  is,  and  he  will  attend 
seriously  to  the  rest  of  the  message. 

But  how  the  energy  is  drained  out  of  the  men  and 
women  who  have  expatriated  themselves  to  do  this  work. 
Granted  that  they  have  sources  of  spiritual  strength 
which  are  open  to  men  everywhere  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. But  how  about  mental  vigor?  Even  mis- 
sionaries are  not  beyond  Elijah,  men  of  like  passions 
with  ourselves.  They  value  the  mail  from  abroad  with 
its  driblets  of  correspondence  to  show  they  are  not  for- 
gotten. Book  postage  is  cheap,  sixteen  cents  will  carry 
on  most  volumes.  They  get  plenty  of  devotional  liter- 
ature, tracts,  and  reports  from  societies ;  read  that  kind 
yourself  and  then  send  it  to  your  mother-in-law;  send 
them  something  readable  to  cheer  the  jaded  spirit,  to 
amuse  the  saddened  heart,  to  keep  the  horizon  from  con- 
tracting. Science,  art,  travel,  music,  humor, — what- 
ever you  delight  in  yourself,  send  on  and  believe  that 
the  missionary  has  not  ceased  to  be  a  man  with  all- 


360  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

round  human  tastes:  Homines  sunt,  et  nihil  humanum 
alienum  est. 

As  we  drew  near  the  end  of  the  journey  along  the 
great  Northern  Boundary,  our  desire  to  see  the  last 
gate  of  China  intensified,  and  we  pushed  on  toward  the 
setting  sun. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

The  End  of  the  Great  Wall 

Alone  we  passed  through  the  West  Gate  of  Kiayii 
Kwan,  and  alone  we  stood  amid  the  desolation.  As  we 
looked  toward  the  west  we  saw  no  human  habitation  to 
modify  the  unhappy  landscape. 

Boundless  and  bare, 
The  lone  and  level  sands  stretched  far  away. 

My  eyes  beheld  only  sand  and  pebbles  and  gaunt  poles, 
standing  up  like  petrified  principles,  holding  aloft  a 
line  of  wire  carrying  to  distant  regions  messages  of 
peace  and  perhaps  of  war.  To  the  north  rose  moun- 
tains, closing  in  near  by  to  join  those  in  the  south, 
whereon  lay  the  whiteness  of  the  snows  of  an  eternal 
winter. 

The  Great  Wall  runs  from  the  deep  sea  to  the  desert, 
from  animation  to  stagnation.  This  Western  Gate  of 
Empire,  to  see  which  we  have  traveled  more  than  ten 
thousand  miles,  over  land  and  water,  through  storms 
and  sunshine,  in  health  and  fever,  has  a  history,  mostly 
unwritten,  worthy  of  the  pen  of  a  Gibbon  or  a  General 
Davis.  In  rapid  flight  through  these  guarded  portals, 
how  many  have  passed  out  into  the  Gobi  uplands,  es- 
caping from  the  heavy  hand  of  vengeance !  How  many 
again,  fugitives  from  justice,  from  disaster,  from  pov- 
erty, hastening  with  lively  hopes  of  a  better  future  in 

361 


362  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


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A  f-  Z-  ft  ft  T  *  ft  363 

Level  water  does  not  run,  nor  a  contented  man  grumble. 

store  for  them  toward  the  setting  sun!  And  in  the 
opposite  direction  what  peoples,  principles  and  passions 
have  entered!  Christianity  twice,  Buddhism  three 
times,  came  eastward,  perhaps  through  this  same  gate. 
Twice  Christianity  came  in — and  failed.  A  third  time 
that  matchless  religion  has  made  its  entry  from  the  west, 
and  now  is  here  to  stay. 

On  the  road  to  Kiayiikwan  we  several  times  saw  a 
mirage  of  entrancing  beauty.  The  Italian  calls  it 
"Fata  Morgana,"  the  Arab,  "Water  of  the  Desert,"  the 
Hindu  "The  Picture."  A  fairer  vision  than  this  mar- 
velously  attractive  sky  scene  these  human  eyes  have 
never  looked  upon.  It  set  us  all  musing.  What  chi- 
merical reasoning  was  at  work  when  they  reckoned  that 
a  wall,  even  this  Great  Wall,  could  prevent  the  northern 
hordes  of  horsemen  from  passing  to  the  fertile  plains 
of  the  south,  unless  well  manned?  Truly  the  morale  of 
men  is  more  important  than  mortar.  It  was  not  the 
Wall  of  China  which  was  at  fault.  Man  not  only  the 
Wall,  but  man  the  men  of  China!  Bricks  and  badness 
can  only  for  a  brief  time  withstand  the  onset  of  virtu- 
ous and  fully  accoutered  foes.    The  Chinese  philosopher 

says: 

Good  men  are  a  fence ; 

The  multitude  of  the  people  are  a  wall ; 

Great  states  are  screens ; 

Great  families  are  buttresses; 

The  cherishing  of  virtue  secures  repose. 

As  we  thus  stand  alone  and  reflect,  the  light  falls 
upon  a  brick-incased  stone  tablet.    In  the  jubilation  of 


364  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

success  this  important  monument,  the  most  western 
tablet  in  the  eighteen  provinces,  escaped  our  eye.  Not 
only  are  there  large  ideographs  on  it — we  count  four 
huge  characters — but  smaller  have  been  carved  by  a 
steady  hand,  while  many  others  written  by  passers-by, 
and  still  others  scratched  by  the  vagrant  hand  of  fancy, 
cover  the  surface  of  this  single  stone.  We  at  once  fall 
to  copying  and  deciphering  these  inscriptions  while  a 
dust  storm  obscures  the  surrounding  desolation. 

"The  Martial  Barrier  of  all  under  Heaven."  This  is 
the  purport  of  the  large  characters  on  the  tablet.  At 
all  times  and  everywhere  in  China  one's  mind  is  bound 
to  recall  the  time  when  this  empire  extended  over  a  vast 
portion  of  the  world.  Particularly  now  does  such  a 
thought  occur  to  us,  and  we  wonder  if  again,  and  that 
right  soon,  the  Chinese  are  destined  to  occupy  a  similar 
position.  But  we  turn  again  to  the  stone  and  read  the 
smaller  inscriptions,  which  run  as  follows: 

1.  "This  Barrier  is  the  ancient  boundary  between  the  flowery 
people  and  the  barbarians  (flowers  and  thorns).  Spring 
wind  and  autumn  zephyrs  (manners  and  customs)  desire  to 
reach  to  the  western  barbarians. 

"After  I  have  gone  through  and  arranged  peace,  let  the  Tai 
Shan  close  up  this  pass." 

9,.  "Looking  west,  we  see  the  vast  road  leading  to  the  New 
Dominion. 

But  only  braves  go  through  the  Martial  Barrier. 
Who  fears  not  the  desert  of  a  thousand  square  li, 
Why  should  he  fear  the  scorching  heat  of  Heaven?" 

S.  "Without  violence  we  must  instil  patriotism; 

Without  tears  we  must  stir  up  the  ancient  people. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 

This  tablet  stands  alone  on  the  desert  outside  the  west  gate  of  Kiayukwan, 
final  fortification  of  China.  "The  Martial  Barrier  of  all  under 
Heaven" 


IS  %  $  %  *  *  n  365 

The  cabbage  grub  dies  in  the  cabbage 

Where  is  the  Golden  Pool  of  Ten  Thousand  lif 
The  good  luck,  where  is  it  gone  to?1 

"Empty  waste  of  Chin  Hwang's  heart !  Vain  was  the  labor !" 
The  copying  of  the  inscriptions  over,  and  the  stone 
having  been  photographed — with  the  aid  of  some  sol- 
diers who  had  offered  us  their  company — we  went  into 
the  city.  As  we  turned  to  do  so  and  looked  eastward, 
Kiayiikwan,  with  its  embattled  walls  and  three-storied 
towers,  looked  very  beautiful  to  a  wearied  traveler  who, 
for  weeks  past,  had  wandered  over  the  desert.  But, 
before  we  proceed  with  our  narrative,  let  us  add  Black 
Dog's  impressions  to  our  own.  We  quote  the  whole 
passage  from  his  diary: 

"Going  west  from  Suchow  seventy  li,  Kiayiikwan! 
One  road  of  level  land.  After  arriving  at  Kiayiikwan 
every  one  was  speaking  of  the  majestic,  namely  'the 
Martial  Pass  of  all  below  Heaven.'  It  was  no  false 
legend.  Although  the  place  of  the  pass  was  not  very 
large  the  strictness  of  the  laws  was  very  awful!  If  a 
man  issued  from  the  pass  he  must  at  Suchow  procure  a 
passport,  which  was  examined  carefully,  then  he  might 
go  out  at  the  pass.  If  he  had  no  permit  from  the  Chow, 
even  if  he  had  wings,  it  would  be  hard  for  him  to  fly 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  pass.  On  the  west  of  the  city 
there  is  an  official  garden,  called  by  name  'The  Garden 

*A  native  explanation  is  as  follows:  "Often  in  a  pool  of  water  there  is 
a  golden  dish,  in  which  is  contained  the  luck  of  the  neighborhood.  The 
folk  do  not  recognize  the  treasure,  but  strangers  are  supposed  to  see  it,  and 
often  they  are  reported  as  having  carried  it  away,  whereon  the  luck  of  the 
neighborhood  disappears." 


366  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

of  the  Official  Trees.'  Inside  and  outside  it  was  all  the 
skeletons  of  corpses.  Where  the  coffins  were  revealed, 
they  had  been  torn  open  by  wolves.  There  were  truly 
many  of  these.  There  was  the  Long  Wall  coming 
straight  from  the  west-north,  a  little  east-south  when 
departing.  Going  on  ahead  there  was  a  river,  said  to 
be  'the  Great  North  River.'  The  condition  of  the 
water  of  the  river  was  very  awe-inspiring,  because  the 
water  streams  from  the  upper  plateaus  where  many 
having  penetrated  thus  far  unite  in  one.  Outside  the 
West  Gate  there  is  a  small  hill  of  sandy  rocks.  Ahead 
there  is  a  great  road  traveled  by  the  big  carts.  .  .  .  On 
the  side  of  the  road  is  a  stone,  on  which  it  says:  'The 
Great  Road  to  the  West  Country.'  Traveling  ahead 
there  is  the  Gobi  Desert.  I  do  not  know  the  difficulties 
of  traveling  this  road.  In  the  midst  of  the  mouth  of 
all  men  it  is  called  'bitter.'  Here  in  the  tunnel  of  the 
West  Gate  are  many  verses.  I  read  in  these  of  the  bitter 
pass,'  'the  bitter  place,'  'the  bitter  hard  travel,'  verses 
without  number.  I  am  not  able  to  tell  it  all,  I  can  only 
make  plain  a  little  of  it.  Every  verse  written  was  to 
show  the  bitterness  of  Gobi.  Some  spoke  of  the  mouth 
of  the  pass;  some  spoke  of  the  vows  they  had  made  in 
their  hearts,  but  the  height  of  their  learning  was  not 
one.  Men  of  bitter  heart  let  flow  bitter  words ;  men  of 
happy  hearts  sang  happy  songs.  Truly  one  could  see 
what  a  man  had  done  and  know  men's  hearts." 

In  Kiayukwan  it  was  our  fortune  to  occupy  the 
upper  room  of  the  Increasing  Righteousness  Inn.  Five 
inns  altogether  offer  accommodation  to  the  ten  thou- 
sand persons  who  sojourn  here  each  year.     Quin,  who 


£     £ 


—  a  %  -p  m  m  ♦  367 

Diligence  overcomes  all  difficulties 

has  been  on  a  visiting  round  to  all  of  them,  furnished 
the  name  of  each  as  follows :  The  Increasing  Righteous- 
ness Inn,  the  Accumulating  Prosperity,  the  Broad  Har- 
mony, the  Virtue  Abundant,  and  Chen's  Convenient 
Inn — truly  a  study  .in  hotel  names!  We  decided  upon 
the  Increasing  Righteousness.  While  we  were  making 
the  above  notes,  a  verse  on  the  wall  of  my  room  caught 
my  eye,  the  work  of  a  traveler  who  plainly  shared  our 
relief  in  escaping  from  the  desert.    He  wrote: 

From  over  the  uplands  of  Gobi, 

From  the  dusty,  dreary  desert, 
I  lift  up  my  head  and 

Behold  the  Towers  of  Kiayiikwan ! 

A  new  man  I  entered  the  longed-for  Gate; 

A  very  good  place  and  no  mistake; 
And  I  think  of  the  travelers  still  outside 

And  the  dangers  and  hardships  that  there  abide. 

Below  the  verse  maker  had  written : 

"Will  some  princely  man  not  find  fault  with  my 
stupid  writing  but  write  a  better  rhyme  than  mine."  As 
if  in  answer  to  the  request  we  read  the  following  below 
the  first  inscription: 

The  Pass  of  Han  ! 
The  moon  of  Chin ! 

I'm  recklessly  thinking  and  guessing. 
Water  never  returns ; 
Sin  ever  burns ; 

There  is  no  profit   in   transgressing. 


368  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

And  beneath,  in  prose: 

"I  have  made  several  journeys  to  the  head  of  this  Pass. 
The  officials  are  strong,  and  I  am  a  merchant  without 
wealth." 

These  writings  on  the  inn  walls  are  a  regular  feature 
of  China.  We  noted  in  Kiayiikwan  four  others  which 
seemed  to  me  worth  transcribing.  The  first  was  a  pious 
inscription  by  "one  hoping  for  success  beyond  the  Great 
Barrier" : 

"I  exhort  the  world  to  hear  and  prove  my  words. 
To  have  or  not  to  have  depends  on  Heaven. 
Follow  the  high,  follow  the  low,  follow  your  time ; 
Whether  long  or  whether  short,  it  is  before  you. 
Respect    your    father's    commands,    follow    righteousness^    and 
dwell  on  your  seat." 

The  next  two  are  from  the  walls  of  the  guest  chamber 
of  the  Accumulating  Prosperity  Inn: 

"Three  brothers  go  forth  outside  the  Pass, 

By    hard    scraping    we    have    gathered   the    cash   to    cross    the 

boundary. 
Once  outside  the  Pass,  we  see  dangers  before  us. 
Our  stomachs  are  hungry  and  our  lips  are  dry. 
When  we  reach  the  ancient  city  we  will  get  a  little  more  money. 
Our  father  and  mother  in  their  hearts  are  constantly  anxious 

about  us , 
But  wait  until  next  year,  we  shall  be  back  again  in  Szechwan. 

"At  the  present  time  I  have  been  living  twenty  years  away  from 

home; 
I  have  passed  through  a  thousand  experiences ; 
I  have  already  lived  half  my  life. 


&  TO  7  m  *T  5f0  fg}  369 

Thrashing  the  priest  when  he  has  finished  praying 
for  you. 

And  I  am  now  going  out  through  the  Pass. 

If  I  attempt  to  tell  how  dry  and  bitter  the  road  will  be,  I  shall 

never  finish  talking. 
I  only  hope  I  may  meet  a  good  companion  and  get  the  news 
from  him." 

Written  by  Wu  Fu  Hwan. 
Do  Not  Laugh 

"When  a  man  is  out  of  a  job,  his  head  is  low. 
When  the  Phoenix  comes  down  from  his  perch, 

He  is  meaner  than  a  chicken. 
When  the  lion  loses  his  hair,  the  monkey  laughs. 

When  the  tiger  leaves  the  deep  mountain, 
He  is  laughed  at  by  the  dogs." 

To  this  last  effort  in  poetical  expression  there  is  added 
in  prose  the  following : 

"The  road  leads  westward  to  the  seventy  cities  in  the  far 
country.  The  mountains  and  rivers  of  ten  thousand  king- 
doms return  to  everlasting  antiquity.  The  majesty  of  this 
Pass  is  spoken  about  inside  and  outside  of  the  kingdom  and 
it  protects  heaven  and  earth." 

It  seems  to  do  these  emigrants  good  to  open  their 
hearts  on  the  wall  of  the  inn !  How  much  more  sensible 
than  the  obscene  scrawls  on  many  a  tramp's  kitchen  in 
England  and  America! 

In  these  hostelries  of  high-sounding  Lames  there  is 
not  much  choice  of  accommodation,  but  there  is  a  great 
variety  in  the  nationalities  and  purposes  of  the  guests. 
Many  merchants  come  this  way,  Tibetans  on  fast  horses, 
Mongols  on  camels  from  the  Koko  Nor,  princes  with 
flocks  and  herds  going  southwest  along  the  Great  South 

24 


370  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

Road  to  seek  pasturage,  explorers,  adventurers,  warriors, 
Chinese  immigrants,  Indians,  Russians,  Turkomans, 
Jews,  Persians,  Englishmen,  Frenchmen,  Americans, 
fools  and  rascals,  poets  and  missionaries — all  go 
through  this  pass! 

Because  of  the  number  of  "hard  cases"  who  come  this 
way,  hoping  to  escape  the  vengeance  of  the  law,  sum- 
mary settlements  are  made  here  of  disorderly  conduct. 
This  is  the  Far  West  of  China.  It  was  our  fortune  to 
meet  the  only  native  of  Kiayiikwan.  The  other  in- 
habitants, mostly  soldiers,  have  come  from  distant  parts 
of  the  empire.  "Distant  Road  Chow"  (for  that  is  the 
native's  name)  has  fifty-seven  winters  on  his  head;  but 
being  a  farmer  he  is  an  honorable  and  honored  man; 
although  not  yet  old.  The  Chinese  honor  vocations  or 
avocations  in  the  following  order,  the  best  first:  Schol- 
ars, farmers,1  artisans,  merchants.  All  others  remain- 
ing unmentioned  are  "common  herd."  Distant  Road 
Chow  related  to  me  a  tale  of  murder  which  seems  inter- 
esting enough  to  be  recorded  here: 

A  soldier  of  low  morals  was  paying  unnecessary  at- 
tentions to  the  wife  of  Mr.  Liang.  The  warrior  Li  was 
several  times  warned  by  the  husband  to  keep  away. 
Now  Liang  was  an  imperial  courier  and  went  to  Su- 
chow  on  business,  but  returned  home  sooner  than 
expected  and  found  the  soldier  Li  living  there.  With- 
out delay  Liang  took  up  a  stout  club  of  elm  wood  and 
killed  both  the  adulterer  and  adulteress.  The  clubbing 
was  so  prompt  that  neither  was  given  opportunity  to 

1  In  a.d.  596  a  decree  was  issued  that  only  on  scholars  and  farmers  should 
official  honor  be  conferred. 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photo    by   Dr.    Geil 

The  western  end  of  the  Great  Wall  overlooking  the  big  White  North  River 


b  a  &  m  »  3n 

When  the  state  is  in  turmoil,  men  think  of  their 
able  general. 

resist.  After  this  brain-beating  exercise  Liang  slept; 
and  when  the  morning  dawned  he  mounted  his  fast 
horse,  galloped  to  Suchow,  gave  himself  up  to  the  mag- 
istrate, confessed  the  killing,  was  examined,  and  accord- 
ing to  Chinese  law  (which  in  this  resembles  the  Jewish) , 
was  set  free.  The  official  acquitted  the  assassin;  re- 
warded him  with  grain ;  placed  a  red  sash  about  his  body 
to  honor  him,  and  made  a  proclamation  announcing  him 
a  good  Chinese!  This  was  according  to  an  ancient 
Chinese  saying:  "A  good  Chinese  does  not  commit 
adultery." 

Kiayiikwan  is  a  place  where  lost  ones  and  runaways 
are  sought.  A  curious  incident  occurred  during  our 
residence  at  the  pass.  One  of  the  interpreters  in  our 
caravan  found  a  red  paper  in  a  chink  in  the  wall  of  his 
room.  On  it  were  many  characters,  the  translation  of 
which  is  as  follows : 

"To  make  known  to  the  Princely  Men  at  the  Four  Points 
of  the  Compass.  To  wit:  That  inside  the  city  of  Sianfu 
and  on  the  East  Tribute  Street,  in  the  inclosure  of  Mr.  Li 
and  family,  for  a  year  lived  the  family  of  Mr.  Deep.  On 
the  fifteenth  sun  of  the  tenth  moon,  year  twenty-seven 
Kwangsu,  he  left  Sian  and  went  to  Lanchow,  and  there 
resided  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Sedate.  Up  to  now  no  other 
word  has  been  news  of  him.  If  the  Princely  Men  know 
anything  we  kindly  invite  them  to  communicate  with  Mr. 
Sect.  Mr.  Deep's  wife  and  children  are  now  living  at  the 
North  Potteries.  Will  the  Princely  Man  with  the  golden 
heart  be  good  and  trouble  himself  for  this?  I  am  longing 
and  hoping.  When  I  see  his  letter  I  will  knock  my  head  on 
the  ground  three  times  and  thank  him." 


372  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

From  the  Inn  of  Increasing  Righteousness  we  sent 
out  three  men  to  copy  inscriptions  in  the  western  gate 
of  the  city  and  in  the  tube  of  the  fortifications  to  the 
west,  while  we  ourselves  took  mules  and  visited  the  real 
end  of  the  Great  Wall,  which  is  not  Kiayiikwan  itself, 
but  a  point  fifteen  li  southwest  of  it.  During  the  jour- 
ney thither  no  human  being  crossed  our  path,  and  there 
was  not  a  house  in  sight  the  whole  way.  Five  antelopes 
were  the  principal  sign  of  life,  as  they  hurried  out  of 
our  track,  and  lizards,  magpies,  and  crows,  of  which 
there  were  some  to  be  seen  at  the  start,  soon  disappeared. 
There  was  nothing  to  attract  the  eye  beyond  whirling 
spirals  of  sand  and  tufts  of  brown  sage  bush,  while  the 
whole  landscape  was  earth  color,  save  that  on  the  lofty 
southern  mountains  there  lay,  as  ever,  the  snow.  The 
monotony  would  have  been  without  relief  but  for  the 
presence  on  the  scene  of  the  ruin  whose  end  we  were 
seeking — the  ruin  of  the  most  stupendous  achievement 
in  Asia! 

When  at  last  we  reached  the  actual  termination  of 
the  Wall,  a  surprise  was  in  store  for  us.  The  construc- 
tion does  not  abut  the  southern  mountains,  but  stops 
short  on  a  precipice  sheer  down  two  hundred  feet,  as 
perpendicular  as  if  cut  by  engineers  to  a  plumb  line. 
Below  flows  the  Big  White  North  River.  Mr.  Clark 
dropped  a  stone  and  his  heart  beat  eight  times  before 
we  heard  the  splash  in  the  water  below.  The  river  is 
creamy  white.  The  mandarin  here  declares  that  when 
the  flow  is  only  from  springs,  the  water  is  clear,  but 
that  the  melting  of  the  snows  colors  it.  The  fact  is  that 
the  tint  is  obtained  by  flowing  through  limestone.     In 


jj§  y  **  a  #  m  m  *        373 

When  a  man  is  over  polite  he  has  something  to  beg. 

the  river  are  fish ;  either  dogfish  or  catfish,  we  could  not 
learn  which. 

The  Big  White  North  River  at  this  point  runs  due 
east  and  west,  but  otherwise  coils  about  in  the  most 
approved  reptilian  fashion,  while  the  Wall  is  due  north 
and  south  here.  We  could  not  resist  being  photo- 
graphed holding  the  "last  brick"  and  then  plunged  it 
down  the  precipice  into  the  river  of  cream.  A  maroon 
and  white  stone  came  with  us  for  a  paper  weight.  Every 
Lafayette  College  man  will  guess  the  reason. 

Here  we  stood  nearly  a  mile  above  sea  level,  and  how 
far  from  the  sea?  We  did  not  carry  a  pedometer  to 
measure  out  our  daily  path,  especially  as  we  sometimes 
utilized  the  legs  of  horses  and  mules,  yet  we  cannot  be 
wide  of  the  mark  in  estimating  the  ruins  of  the  Great 
Barrier,  including  spurs,  arms  and  loops,  as  reaching 
over  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  We 
are  of  opinion  that  at  the  height  of  its  usefulness  the 
Great  Wall  had  on  its  line  at  least  twenty-five  thousand 
towers  and  fifteen  thousand  watch  towers.  And  even 
in  the  present  state  of  decadence  there  probably  remain 
twenty  thousand  towers,  each  capable  of  accommodat- 
ing one  hundred  armed  men  and  ten  thousand  watch 
towers  linked  up  with  two  thousand  miles  of  Wall  or 
Rampart;  all  capable  of  speedy  fortification  after  mod- 
erate repair.  When,  too,  we  remember  the  walls  en- 
circling two  thousand  fortified  cities,  we  can  see  that 
China  has  enough  rampart,  if  it  were  straightened  out, 
to  run  from  pole  to  pole  as  the  axis  on  which  the  earth 
might  revolve. 


374  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

If,  however,  the  question  is,  not  how  long  is  the  Wall 
with  all  its  convolutions,  but  how  far  apart  are  the  two 
ends,  the  great  forts  at  the  Yellow  Sand  and  at  the 
Yellow  Sea,  then  we  quote  our  accurate  observations. 
Shanhaikwan  is  in  latitude  40°  north,  longitude  119°  44' 
east;  Kiayiikwan  is  in  39°  51'  north,  98°  14'  east. 
If  we  remember  that  the  earth  is  not  a  perfect  globe, 
but  an  oblate  spheroid  flattened  at  the  poles,  the 
distance  works  out,  by  Clarke's  spheroid,  at  1142.309 
miles.  Or  if  we  neglect  the  fact  that  Kiayiikwan  is 
nine  miles  nearer  the  equator  than  Shanhaikwan,  and 
measure  as  on  a  regular  sphere,  the  distance  will  be 
1142.209  common  miles.  As  neither  terminal  tablet  is 
exactly  at  the  terminal  fort,  we  may  say  in  round  num- 
bers that  "Heaven  made  the  Sea  and  the  Mountains" 
is  1145  miles  from  "The  Martial  Barrier  of  all  under 
Heaven." 

This  stupendous  structure  extends  from  the  Yellow 
Sea  past  the  Yellow  River  to  the  Yellow  Sand  and 
thence  on  to  the  Big  White  Water.  From  the  Yellow 
to  the  White,  is  the  course  of  our  thoughts  when  looking 
westward.  And  many  considerations  pass  through  the 
mind.  Will  the  Yellows  go  to  the  Whites  and  submerge 
them?  Will  it  be  from  Yellow  to  White;  or  will  it  be 
that  the  White  will  become  Yellow  and  that  these  peo- 
ple will  ultimately  predominate  ?  After  the  observations, 
scientific  and  otherwise,  were  finished  we  found  our- 
selves loath  to  leave  the  ultimate  point  of  the  Great  Wall. 
Most  of  our  thoughts,  as  we  rode  toward  beautiful  Kia- 
yiikwan, were  about  the  movements  of  nations.  We 
"thought  in  empires."     The   Chinese  evidently  came 


The    Great    Wall    of    China 
L.  Newton  Haves,  M.A. 


Photo    by    Dr.    Geil 


*  m  %  a  i  375 

In  catching  rebels  first  catch  their  king. 

originally  through  that  pass  and  settled  in  the  hend  of 
the  Yellow  River.  When  they  return  toward  the  west 
from  whence  they  came,  where  will  they  stop?  Where 
is  the  real  home  of  the  yellow  race?  Will  they  ever  go 
home  and  claim  their  own  ? 

Then  we  thought  of  the  hundreds  of  miles  of  Wu  Ti's 
rampart  extending  west  of  here,  but  we  decided  to 
abide  by  our  original  purpose  to  deal  with  two  Great 
Walls:  that  of  Chin  and  that  of  the  present,  and  then, 
too,  Dr.  Stein  will  ably  report  on  the  ruins  of  Wu  Ti's 
construction. 

The  men  whom  we  sent  to  copy  inscriptions  on  the 
outside  of  the  West  Gate  and  also  in  the  tube  of  the  Wall 
returned  with  many  interesting  verses  and  bits  of  prose. 
It  was  to  be  expected  that  men  going  west  would  feel 
differently  from  those  going  east,  for  the  dread  of  this 
pass  was  greater  to  the  criminal  in  former  times  than 
now.  In  the  early  days  no  man  was  permitted  to  pass 
except  during  certain  hours  on  two  days  a  week,  and 
then  it  was  required  of  him  that  before  going  west  he 
should  give  his  name  to  the  civil  mandarin,  with  some 
information  about  his  character.  Any  person  coming 
in  through  the  gate  was  required  to  report  himself  to 
the  military  official.  One  might  think  that  criminals 
would  scale  the  Wall  or  slip  through  a  rent  in  the  Great 
Boundary.  But  any  person  venturing  on  any  such  es- 
capade would  pay  for  it  with  his  head  if  caught,  and 
many  people  seriously  believe  that  it  is  impossible  for 
a  criminal  to  escape  through  this  gateway.     Truly  a 


376  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

guilty  conscience  doth  make  cowards  of  even  Chinese, 
who  have  not  so  much  as  read  Shakespeare. 

Curiously  enough,  there  was  a  disturbance  at  mid- 
night in  the  grounds  of  the  very  inn  where  we  were 
stopping.  We  were  awakened  out  of  a  sound  slumber 
by  screams  and  shrieks  that  were  terrifying  in  the  ex- 
treme. At  first  it  seemed  that  we  must  be  dreaming, 
but  the  uproar  grew  louder  and  more  awe-inspiring, 
until  at  length  our  thoughts  ran  to  automatic  rifles. 
Seizing  one,  we  hastened  into  the  cold,  dark  night,  fear- 
ing that  the  danger  was  to  our  companions,  who  were 
sleeping  on  the  far  side  of  the  courtyard  and  in  the 
direction  of  the  noise.  The  yelling  and  screaming  were 
unearthly,  fit  for  the  lower  regions.  In  the  dim  light 
we  noticed  that  the  great  gate  of  the  court  was  closed 
and  locked.  The  crowd  inside  rushed  about  and  were 
greatly  excited.  Rifle  in  hand,  we  joined  the  nervous, 
trembling  group,  and  listened  to  the  strange  tale  being 
told  by  one  of  the  most  excited  of  the  natives. 

Several  men,  it  seems,  were  sleeping  on  the  kong, 
with  their  heads  on  the  outer  edge  after  the  Chinese 
custom,  when  something  awakened  one  of  them.  He 
held  his  breath  for  fear,  as  he  watched  a  tall,  uncanny 
creature  steal  in  through  the  door.  This  unearthly 
thing  wore  no  queue,  its  hair  hung  down  over  the  fore- 
head, stripes  of  bright  yellow  showed  on  the  cheeks,  and 
over  it  was  a  long  blue  gown  lined  with  gray.  The 
troubled  imagination  of  the  native  pictured  the  visitor 
as  of  giant  size,  with  long  gaunt  fingers  and  extended 
nails.  It  seems  to  have  taken  the  corner  of  his  cloak, 
which  evidently  was  leaded,  and  struck  one  after  an- 


Alms  done  openly  will  be  repaid  secretly. 

other  of  the  sleepers  a  heavy  blow.  It  appeared  to  have 
a  particular  enmity  for  the  man  farthest  in,  who  was 
sleeping  next  the  wall.  Repeated  blows  fell  upon  the 
head  of  this  hapless  man,  who,  not  knowing  what  he 
said,  shouted:  "Strike  me,  strike  me,"  which  was  pre- 
cisely what  he  did  not  want  done.  The  fiend  took  him 
at  his  word  and  hit  him  again,  until  the  wounded  man, 
not  knowing  whether  he  was  addressing  a  god  or  devil, 
shouted:  "I  would  have  done  no  evil;  why  does  the  devil 
come  and  beat  me  thus?" 

And  so  the  story  ran,  told  at  the  height  of  midnight, 
on  the  edge  of  the  gloomy,  silent  desert  at  the  end  of  the 
Great  Wall,  with  the  mountains  of  mysterious  Tibet 
looking  down  upon  the  scene;  it  was  all  weird  and  un- 
canny. We  slept  the  remainder  of  the  night  with  a 
repeating  cordite  rifle,  automatic  and  deadly,  at  our 
side.  The  next  morning  two  of  the  men  had  their  heads 
in  bandages,  and  they  rehearsed,  with  embellishments, 
the  story  of  the  devil's  attack  in  the  dead  of  night. 
Whatever  interpretation  is  placed  on  this  incident,  it 
suggests  that  the  consciences  of  men,  because  of  super- 
stitious dread,  become  active  at  the  Martial  Pass. 

Next  day,  when  we  made  the  acquaintance  of  one  of 
the  guards  at  the  gate,  named  "Old  Hero  Meng"  after 
the  greatest  of  Chinese  philosophers,  he  corroborated 
my  ideas  about  the  abundance  of  superstitions  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  pass.  Speaking  about  the  mid- 
night excitement,  he  said:  "Oh,  yes,  it  was  the  devil.  No 
man  would  make  a  noise  like  that.  It  was  the  devil, 
because  four  men  saw  the  devil ;  and  anyhow,  every  man 


378  THE  GREAT  WALE  OF  CHINA 

meets  the  devil  at  least  once  in  ten  days,  either  big  or 
little  voice." 

Old  Hero  Meng  says  that  people  offer  sacrifices  go- 
ing west,  but  he  never  knew  anybody  to  offer  sacrifices 
when  coming  back.  This  information  was  supplemented 
when  we  inquired  why  there  were  no  inscriptions  on  the 
East  Gate.  He  replied:  "Poor  when  they  go  out,  and 
rich  when  they  return,  and  don't  think  to  write  couplets 
on  the  East  Gate."  This  is  the  same  story  over  again — 
religion  when  in  want,  but  want  no  religion  when  in 
plenty ! 

Old  Hero  Meng's  conversation  was  remarkably  inter- 
esting. The  following  is  the  actual  text  of  his  answer 
to  a  question:  "At  the  heels  of  the  Great  Man  I  reply." 
(He  always  began  that  way,  even  when  there  was  no 
reply.)  He  then  said  a  second  time:  "At  the  heels  of 
the  Great  Man  I  reply.  Speaking  talk  about  Moa  Toa 
Chuen,  if  an  empty  man  at  the  time  the  heaven  wants  to 
get  bright,  if  an  empty  man  goes  toward  the  east,  goes 
toward  the  east  about  the  time  the  heavens  want  to  get 
bright,  and  crosses  the  ford  and  goes  toward  the  east, 
goes  toward  the  east  when  the  heaven  wants  to  get 
bright,  goes  past  the  military  camp,  past  the  military 
camp,  past  the  military  camp,  if  he  starts  when  the 
heaven  wants  to  get  bright  and  goes  toward  the  east, 
toward  the  east,  past  the  military  camp,  he  will  get  there 
before  the  sun  is  even  with  the  west." 

Old  Hero  Meng  was  not  intoxicated.  It  was  simply 
his  style  of  speech!  When  we  asked  him  why  Kiayii- 
kwan  was  built  at  this  particular  place,  he  told  us  that 
Chin  stood  on  the  north  mountain  and  shot  an  arrow 


Slnveik'ou   in   November 


The    Great    Wall    of    China  Photos    by    Dr.    Geil 

The    Magic    Meteor,    which    deflected    the    Wall    from    its    natural    course 


&  ft  %  g  #  ft  «  379 

rle  who  has  seen  little,  marvels  much. 

with  an  iron  bow.  Where  the  arrow  fell,  the  city  was 
built.  Where  Chin  stood,  the  bow  was  buried.  The 
man  who  succeeds  in  finding  the  iron  bow  of  Chin  will 
also  find  a  golden  ox.  The  natives  have  never  seen  it, 
but  explorers  are  said  to  look  at  it  through  a  glass. 

At  this  exit  from  the  fortifications  were  abundant 
inscriptions.  Two  of  these  deserve  special  attention, 
relating  to  the  Kiangsi  affair,  and  the  Russians.  First 
the  Kiangsi  affair  as  it  appeals  to  the  West. 

At  the  city  of  Nanchang  in  1907  there  were  three  sets 
of  foreigners,  Americans,  British,  and  French.  The 
last  were  Roman  Catholic  priests,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  traditional  policy  of  Rome,  had  claimed  civil 
rank  by  virtue  of  their  priesthood.  Made  priests  by  a 
process  in  which  China  had  no  share,  they  entered  China 
by  treaty  right,  and  demanded,  ex  officio,  to  be  recog- 
nized as  equal  to  a  certain  grade  of  Chinese  civil  servant. 
And  whereas  a  civil  servant  had  powers  only  in  his  own 
district,  these  foreigners  claimed  recognition  in  every 
district  they  chose  to  enter  or  travel  through.  Natu- 
rally, this  extraordinary  privilege  has  created  endless 
friction;  what  should  we  think  of  a  Swedish  traveler 
who  had  been  made  mayor  of  Gothenburg,  claiming  to 
exercise  mayoral  functions  in  any  American  town  he 
visited?  At  Nanchang  there  arose  some  litigation  and 
as  it  involved  Roman  Catholics,  the  priests  took  an  ac- 
tive part.  They  at  last  invited  the  judge  to  their  house, 
and  nobody  can  tell  exactly  what  happened,  except  that 
he  never  left  it  alive;  it  is  highly  improbable  that  they 
murdered  him;  it  is  quite  in  accordance  with  Chinese 


380  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

ways  to  suppose  that  he  felt  himself  so  insulted  hy  some- 
thing that  occurred,  as  to  commit  suicide.  In  any  case 
the  populace  recognized  a  grave  insult  to  their  own  high 
officer,  and  took  the  law  into  their  own  hands,  burning 
the  place  and  slaying  the  six  French  Catholic  priests. 
Unhappily,  too,  the  British  family,  which  had  been  in 
no  sort  of  way  concerned  in  the  matter,  was  assassi- 
nated, though  the  commandant  then  took  prompt  meas- 
ures to  protect  the  other  innocent  foreigners. 

The  central  government  of  course  had  report  on  the 
matter,  and  one  result  was  the  withdrawal  of  the  extra- 
ordinary rights  accorded  to  the  Roman  Catholic  dig- 
nitaries. Henceforth,  they  have  no  special  status,  but 
are  simply  aliens,  under  the  protection  of  their  consuls 
and  the  ambassadors  of  their  nation.  Another  result 
was  an  inquiry  into  the  Chinese  organizers  of  this  lynch 
law,  with  the  subsequent  banishment  of  one  culprit. 
He  was  exiled  in  this  direction,  and  has  left  traces  of 
his  halt  at  the  Western  Tube. 

Banished  by  the  Beneficent  Emperor  on  account  of  the 
Kiangsi  affair.  .  .  .  Stopping  here  a  day  .  .  .  very  sad 
and  write. 

Body  like  a  wandering  bird  .  .  .  am  weeping  .  .  .  mis- 
erable to  go  out  of  the  Gate.  .  .  .  My  life  is  light  like 
feathers  on  a  bird.  .  .  .  Hills  like  fierce  tigers.  .  .  .  My 
heart  is  open  and  bare  ...  I  will  comfort  myself  ...  I 
have  repented  .  .  .  hope  my  Emperor  will  recall  me. 


I  cannot  write  all  I  think  .  .  .  ten  thousand  li  of  desert 
.  .  .  west,  the  devil's  country  .  .  .  south  the  barbarians 
.  .  .  next  to  our  China,  I  think  constantly  of  home,  and 
write  this  sonnet.  .  .  .  My  cart  bumps  over  the  dragon 


ft  £  tt  ffii  *  £  H  381 

Generalship  consists  in  strategy  not  in  courage. 

sand  ...  I  am  foolish  ...  I  am  less  than  a  snail  in 
the  well  ...  I  let  my  tears  fall  .  .  .  fourth  moon  and 
no  flowers  .  .  .  very  sad  ...  I  am  come  from  the  east 
full  of  tears,  to  this  Barrier  erected  in  ancient  times.  .  .  . 
Life  and  the  goose  are  drowned  in  weak  water.  .  .  .  Open 
your  bosom  to  intelligence  and  be  not  obstinate.  ...  I  am 
ashamed  that  a  lowly  official  should  offend  the 
Emperor.   .   .  . 


As  deep  rushing  water  the  ink  drops  from  my  pen.  .  .  . 
My  tears  are  as  the  rising  sea-tide.  .  .  .  Raise  the  wine 
but  gather  not  men  into  cliques.  .  .  .  Parties  arise  who 
submit  to  the  pen ;  this  is  not  strange  ...  I  am  a  com- 
panion of  the  duck.  .  .  .  What  is  it  that  gathers  in  the 
home  of  the  wealthy  one,  vain  of  hot  blood? 

Guests  from  the  west  say  .  .  .  tiger  .  .  ancestor  of 
the  Russians  .  .  .  arise  and  will  swallow.  .  .  .  What 
then?  .  .  . 


Fourth  Moon,  seventeenth  day   (1907)  .  .  . 
Ancient  Wild  Duck.  . 

Perhaps  it  was  the  last  stanza  here  that  inspired  an- 
other to  inscribe  boldly 

BEWARE  OF  THE  RUSSIANS 

This  saying,  however,  is  already  obsolete.  Russia  has 
few  terrors  for  Japanese  or  Chinese  now.  Before  long 
Russia  will  have  cause  to  build  her  own  Wall,  and  mark 
on  it  for  warning  to  her  sentries 

BEWARE  OF  THE  CHINESE 

Once  the  Great  Barrier  had  three  millions  of  soldiery 


382  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

behind  it.  Suppose  these  came  once  again  to  man  the 
towers,  with  Maxims  on  the  turrets,  and  siege  guns  be- 
hind the  Wall.  Who  would  dare  attack?  But  suppose 
they  march  forward,  who  can  defend? 

Six  years  ago  the  great  Tuan  Fang  said  to  us,  "China 
needs  before  all  else  a  new  spirit/'  That  spirit  has 
come.  There  is  a  sentiment  for  the  empire,  there  is  a 
national  spirit  that  will  brook  little  more  interference. 
An  enormous  army  is  preparing,  and  great  educational 
and  other  schemes  are  being  revolved.  Let  us  hope 
that  not  only  a  new  spirit,  but  a  good  spirit  will  show 
itself. 

After  these  inscriptions  others  seem  tame. 

While  we  were  still  at  Kiayiikwan,  the  head  man- 
darins of  the  fortress  called  upon  us  at  the  inn  and 
presented  their  greetings,  urging  us  to  accept  an  in- 
vitation to  a  banquet  in  our  honor,  to  be  held  in  the 
Civil  Yamen.  We  accepted.  As  this  was  to  be  our 
last  full  meal  at  the  western  end  of  the  Great  Boun- 
dary, we  requested  our  hosts  to  give  us  a  copy  of 
the  menu.  The  banquet  was  a  "Sea  Cucumber  Feast" 
— by  a  happy  coincidence,  Chin  was  very  fond  of  sea 
cucumber — and  consisted  of  nineteen  courses.  Seeing 
that  the  region  hereabouts  is  desert,  it  was  surprising 
to  be  entertained  with  such  luxury.  The  courses  were 
as  follows: 

1.  Wine  (refused  with  a  statement  of  temperance 
principles) . 

2.  Tonic  wine  (refused  with  more  statements  of 
American  temperance  principles,  and  the  information 


"The   Last    Brick."     Dr.   Geil   at    the   end   of   the  Great    Wall 


Bl  M  ffl  #  383 

Waiting  till  you  are  thirsty  before  digging  your  well 

that  on  January  1,  1909,  thirty-five  millions  of  people 
in  the  United  States  will  come  under  prohibition) . 

3.  Small  appetizers  (i.e.,  melon-seed,  cabbage,  salted 
eggs,  antique  eggs,  odoriferous  eggs,  pork,  shrimps, 
pickled  carp,  tasty  chicken,  celery). 

4.  Sea  cucumbers. 

5.  Oil  chicken. 

6.  Bamboo  sprouts. 

7.  Lotus  seeds. 

8.  High  Yin  fish. 

9.  Mushrooms. 

10.  Raisin  pudding  (resembling  plum  pudding). 

11.  Chicklets. 

12.  Sea  grass. 

13.  Pickled  bean-cured  pork. 

14.  Rice  and  rice  soup. 

15.  Mutton. 

16.  Egg-plant  dishes. 

17.  Meat  dumplings. 

18.  Pork. 

19.  Soup. 

False  teeth  were  discussed  at  the  dinner-table  and  in 
reply  to  the  question,  "Are  the  Great  Man's  teeth  all 
good?"  I  said,  "Good  up  to  the  North  Pole,"  which  is 
a  Chinese  expression.  These  little  personal  inquiries 
liven  conversation  wonderfully  in  China! 

It  was  in  the  yamen  of  the  Civil  Mandarin  that  the 
Sea  Cucumber  Feast  was  given  in  honor  of  the  ex- 
plorer. In  China  it  is  the  fact,  as  it  should  be  all  over 
the  world,  that  the  civil  authority  takes  precedence  over 


384  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

the  military.  "As  the  intellectual  acquisitions  of  a  peo- 
ple increase,  their  love  of  war  will  diminish."  This 
is  not  intended  to  suggest  that,  as  long  as  there  remain 
selfish,  non-intellectual,  excitable  peoples,  thinking  men 
will  not  be  in  favor  of  being  prepared  for  war.  War  is 
approved  by  some  because  it  furnishes  opportunities 
for  personal  distinction.  With  us,  wealth  provides  such 
opportunities;  with  the  Chinese  a  literary  career.  In 
savage  Boreno  no  girl  will  marry  a  man  until  he  has  pro- 
cured a  human  head.  In  New  Guinea  are  found  old 
houses  filled  with  human  skulls.  What  does  the  extra- 
ordinary military  spirit  in  Japan  indicate?  Simply  this, 
that  underneath  the  modern  veneer  the  past  is  alive  and 
powerful.  Japan  unconsciously  reveals  that  barbarism 
provides  her  instincts.  Will  an  awakening  in  China  re- 
veal a  similar  spirit?  No.  For  with  the  intellectual 
awakening  will  come  a  desire  for  intellectual  pursuits. 
When  the  intellectual  acquisitions  are  insufficient,  the 
desire  for  war  may  be  widespread  and  insistent.  From 
the  debasement  of  the  savage  to  the  lofty  summit  of  the 
highest  civilization  is  a  distance  so  great  that  nations 
or  individuals  cannot  take  it  at  one  jump.  There  are 
steps,  and  during  the  ascent  it  may  easily  be  that  there 
will  be  rumors  of  wars  and  shedding  of  human  blood. 
China  is  capable  of  becoming  again  as  warlike  as  she  was 
in  those  days  when  her  troops  marched  through  the 
streets  of  Mosv  nv  and  her  generals  set  upon  the  throne 
of  India  the  Mongols  of  the  North.  The  time  was 
when  China  ruled  from  the  equator  to  the  north  pole, 
and  from  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  to  the  Yellow  Sea,  the 
vastest  and  most  powerful  nation  of  human  history. 


#  #1  #  fC  ^  tfl  #•  385 

The  year  fears  the  fall  and  the  moon  its  waning  time. 

And  China  to-day  is  the  only  nation  on  this  planet  cap- 
able of  placing  in  the  field  an  army  of  fifty  millions 
of  able-bodied  men,  and  then  still  have  thirty  millions 
of  men  at  home  to  cultivate  the  soil.  The  yellow  legions 
have  in  the  past  by  their  measured  tread  shaken  the 
world;  and  if  the  compulsion  comes,  there  will  be  or- 
ganized again  yellow  legions  of  such  numbers,  of  such 
strength,  and  of  such  ingenuity  as  will  put  to  their 
wits'  end  the  cabinets  of  Christendom. 

But  the  Chinese  traditionally  and  actually  are  a  peo- 
ple of  literary  pursuits,  at  least  as  far  as  their  leaders 
are  concerned;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the 
modernizing  of  China  will  be  different  from  that  of 
Japan,  and  that  this  empire  will  throw  the  weight  of 
her  mighty  influence  on  the  side  of  peace.  The  power 
that  built  the  Great  Wall  believed  that  it  was  better  to 
lay  stones  than  to  throw  them;  that  to  lift  a  man,  or 
a  province,  or  a  nation  is  better  than  to  impoverish,  en- 
thrall, or  destroy  them. 

As  to  the  speed  of  China's  awakening,  probably  most 
of  our  readers  have  heard  of  the  epitaph:  "Here  lies 
the  man  who  tried  to  hustle  the  East."  The  question  is 
did  the  man  try?  If  he  did,  he  had  a  right  to  the  reward 
of  rest.  But  the  likelihood  is  that  the  writer  of  the 
supposed  epitaph,  like  many  another,  r**i  not  himself, 
"lend  a  hand,"  and  hence,  not  having  done  anything, 
he  does  not  deserve  death.  We  should  look  on  the 
author  of  the  phrase  as  a  man  of  immature  observation, 
for  the  merest  schoolboy  knows  that  it  is  possible  to 
hustle  the  East.     Years  ago  men  of  great  foresight, 

86 


386  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

looking  beyond  the  horizon,  saw  the  East  getting  ready 
to  hustle.  "Here  lies  the  man  who  tried  to  hustle  the 
East!"  No  man  who  is  familiar  with  the  history  of 
China  (which  is  not  the  East,  but  is  at  least  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  East)  could  ever  have  been  per- 
suaded to  write  such  silly  stuff.  It  is  not  the  man  under 
the  tombstone  who  lies,  but  the  live  man  who  writes  the 
epitaph.  Look  at  Japan!  Look  at  Korea!  Look  at 
China!    The  East  hustles! 

It  cannot  be  denied,  of  course,  that  the  Chinese  have 
been  severely  criticized  for  "making  haste  slowly"  in 
the  adoption  of  certain  modern  western  inventions. 
For  instance,  they  are  slow  to  build  railroads.  But  does 
not  this  slowness  exhibit  their  foresight  and  extraordi- 
nary wisdom?  We  peoples  have  vast  sums  of  money 
invested  in  railway  lines  which  are  about  to  become  out 
of  date.  Even  now  America  is  in  the  ridiculous  situa- 
tion of  being  compelled  to  do  its  correspondence  by 
letters.  Inventions  are  at  hand  capable  of  telegraphing 
a  thousand  words  a  minute,  but  the  present  effete  tele- 
graph systems  buy  up  and  bury  the  inventions.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  United  States  should  now  be  able  to 
telegraph  their  letters  to  any  part  of  the  country  at 
the  rate  of  five  cents  for  one  hundred  words.  Again, 
as  invested  capital  is  preventing  advancement  in  cor- 
respondence, it  is  also  preventing  advancement  in 
transportation.  It  will  be  almost  impossible  to  intro- 
duce into  America  the  non-collapsible,  inter-wheel 
gyroscope  trains  running  on  a  single  wire  at  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miles  an  hour.  Railroad  bonds  and 
stocks  at  present  are  paying  a  low  rate  of  interest. 


m^mnm  387 

Wine  does  not  relieve  real  sorrow. 

With  such  competition  they  would  pay  no  interest  at 
all,  and  be  of  no  interest  to  the  public.  So  we  do  not 
get  gyroscope  trains. 

Let  us  look  further.  We  laugh  at  the  Chinese  for 
retaining  their  complicated  ideographs,  and  prophesy 
that  the  nation  continuing  to  employ  such  complicated 
characters  will  find  it  difficult  to  provide  popular  edu- 
cation. We  point  out,  quite  truly,  that  Chinese  is  a 
language  without  an  alphabet,  and  that  its  unlikeness 
to  any  other  language  is  a  proof  of  the  extreme  isola- 
tion of  the  nation  speaking  it;  and  isolation  such  as 
this  we  look  upon  as  sheer  obstinate  stupidity.  But  let 
us  turn  our  eyes  homeward,  and  what  do  we  see?  Do 
we  not  find  ourselves  still  using  an  out-of-date  and 
ridiculous  alphabet?  These  twenty-six  letters  are  re- 
tarding one  generation  after  another.  In  the  South 
Seas  there  is  a  group  of  islands  where  live  the  descend- 
ants of  cannibals  who  are  more  progressive  in  this  mat- 
ter than  ourselves.  Is  it  not  passing  strange  that  the 
inventive  genius  of  the  age  has  not  been  applied  to  pro- 
vide half  the  planet's  population  with  something  better 
than  our  twenty-six  letters?  Why  should  not  we  uni- 
versally use  a  perfected  system  of  stenography? 

These  are  simply  suggestions  pointing  to  the  possi- 
bility that  at  some  near  date  China,  untrammeled  by 
vast  investments  in  out-of-date  trunk  lines,  telegraph 
lines,  and  prejudice,  will  become  the  most  modern  of 
all  modern  peoples.  Our  rails  will  be  useless.  Our 
wires  are  becoming  useless  now.  The  Chinese,  having 
few  of  either,  will  be  free  to  adopt,  instead  of  both,  the 


388  THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 

latest  expression  of  the  inventive  skill  and  genius  of 
this  age. 

Out  of  Asia  came  the  Light  which  has  made  western 
progress  possible,  and  we  may  expect  that  out  of  Asia 
will  come  a  race  making  further  progress  possible. 

China  has  held  back  from  Christianity  for  a  long 
time.  It  tried  the  Syrian  variety,  and  after  long  exper- 
imenting engulfed  it;  it  made  brief  trial  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan variety,  and  rejected  it.  It  cautiously  tested 
the  Jesuit  variety  and  expelled  the  foreigners.  But  now 
it  welcomes  the  exponents  of  more  primitive  Christian- 
ity, and  is  rapidly  absorbing  thousands  of  Testaments. 
Perhaps  hereto  China  will  suddenly  startle  the  West  by 
awakening  from  her  long  lethargy,  and  rapidly  assimi- 
lating what  indeed  is  indigenous  to  her  own  continent. 
The  Chinese  hare  started  well,  but  has  long  lain 
asleep,  while  the  European  tortoise  plodded  on.  The 
tortoise  has  lately  succeeded  in  treading  on  the  hare's 
tail  and  awakening  her.  The  hare  is  rubbing  her  eyes 
and  getting  her  bearings.  Will  she  now  start  on  with  a 
speed  marvelous  in  our  eyes,  and  soon  distance  us  with 
our  stereotyped  rate  of  progress?  How  many  Christians 
are  added  to  the  churches  every  year  in  Europe  and 
America?  Does  the  increase  compare  with  the  increase 
in  the  Central  Kingdom?  We  look  with  all  hopefulness 
to  a  startling  advance,  to  a  rapid  appreciation  of  the 
message  of  Christ;  and  our  only  concern  is  that  this 
message  shall  be  adequately  presented  to  the  people 
whose  attention  is  now  aroused,  and  who  are  on  the 
alert  for  every  guide  to  deeper  and  better  knowledge. 
Heaven  bless  the  faithful  men  and  women  who  by  teach- 
ing and  life  are  commending  the  gospel  they  profess! 


INDEX 


Abnormally   large  men,   122. 
Actual  termination  of  the  Wall,  37;?. 
Agencies    of    foreigners,    130. 
Alexander   of   Macedon,    194. 
Ancient  irrigating  scheme,  181. 
Ancient    village    of    Chen,    302. 
Antelopes   by    the   score,    113. 
Appendix  to  the  seal  characters,  340. 
Are  the  Chinese  bloody?  73. 
Arrival    at    Yokohama,    10. 
Arrival    in   Lanchow,    276. 
Ass-Headed    Heir   Apparent,   224. 
Attempt  to  find  secret  door,  120. 

Beacon   fires,   220. 

Beautiful   mountain   view,  322. 

Bed    rock   mostly    sandstone,    112. 

Beginning  of  journey,  7. 

Bevy   of  dancing   girls,   291. 

Beyond    the    Barrier — Tartar    forays, 

308. 
Biography  of  a  grain  of  sand,  179. 
Block     printing    of    ancient    use    in 

China,    175. 
Bokhara   and   Samarcand,   160. 
Book  of  the  Blue  Bag,  69. 
Bread  precious  as  printed  paper,  353. 
Brickwork    in    towers    designed    and 

finished   first,   95. 
British   family  assassinated,  380. 
Borderland   of   Tibet,   321. 

Camel's  Hair  mountain,  213. 

Canal  connecting  the  northern  capital 
with  Nanking,  Hangchow,  and  Can- 
ton, 265. 

Cannon  of  hard  and  soft  copper,  99. 

"Cap   of   the  West,"   the,   13. 


Caravan   entered   bad   lands,   187. 

Celestials'   queer   prescriptions,   142. 

Cemetery  at  Yung  Lo,  70. 

Ch'ach'ien    Kow,   85. 

China   Inland  Mission,  330. 

China  needs  a  new  spirit,  382. 

Ch  na  on  Japanese-Chinese  stamps, 
29. 

Chinese  barber  carries  a  pole,  256; 
they  dearly  love  a  gamble,  40; 
scholars  deciphering  and  translat- 
ing, 337;  steeped  in  charms  and 
good  luck,  244. 

Chin  Huang  Ti's  travels,   139. 

Chin's  ancient  tomb,  28;  his  big 
bludgeon,  77;  his  book-burning, 
202;  his  great  feast,  203;  his  Mound 
and  Tomb,  209;  his  philippic 
against  scholars,  204;  his  realm, 
196;  his  wives  and  concubines 
buried  alive  in  the  mound,  229; 
maker  of  the  vastest  empire  of 
mortals,  123. 

Chin  Shih  Huang,  31. 

Chinwangtao,  13. 

Christian   missionaries   in   China,   312. 

Christians'  temperance  organization, 
147. 

City   of   Lint'ung,    213. 

Civilization  and  thievery  adjoin,  200. 

Cliff   of   Self-devotion,   the,   219. 

Complicated    ideographs,    387. 

Confucian  temple,  the,  329. 

Confucius,  288-292. 

Criminals  of  Shanghai,  277. 

Culture  slight  in   early  years,  307. 

"Cycle   of   Cathay,"   126. 

Czar   Peter,    130. 


389 


:*!)() 


INDKX 


Death    of    Christians    at    Flowering- 

Ohedience,  39. 
Defense  of  the  Great  Wall,  98;  fully 

developed,  101. 
Design    to    visit    Chinehow,    294. 
Determination   to   thoroughly   inspect 

Wall,    8. 
Developing  a  Panama  canal,  3. 
Difficulty    of    ohtaining    information, 

354. 
Disturbance   at  midnight,   376. 
Doomsday    hook,    a,    197. 
Dust    and   dirt   everywhere,  345. 
Dynasties,  the,   127-129. 

East  end  of  Wall  below  sea  level,  37. 

Eastern    mausolea,    74. 

Eastern    Tombs,   44. 

Eastern  Y,  69. 

Eclipse  of  the  sun,  the,  88. 

Failure  of   Amherst   embassy,  30. 
Fair  side  of  the  desert,  the,  141. 
Family   jars   notorious,    166. 
Famous    Sian,   213. 
First  use  of  the  seal,  25. 
Four  great  roads,  59. 
Four  tablets,   the,  80. 

Garrisons  behind  the  Wall,  96. 

Genghis  investigated   Cathay,   168. 

Genghis    Khan,    157. 

Golden   Granary,   the,   230. 

Good   stories,  355. 

Granite  walls  on  a  Devon  moor,  241. 

Grasses     and     flowering     plants     on 

Mound,  212. 
Grave  in  the  Great  Wall,  278. 
Graveyard   of   the    Mings,   74. 
Great  flood  in  reign  of  Yao,  286. 
Great   northwest  road,  275. 
Greatest    literary    marvel    in    world's 

history,   270. 
Great  Wall  built  by  an  endless  race, 

298;  it  exhibits  now  only  the  loess 


core,   MSj    it   separates  two  epochs, 
two  lands,  two  race  .  I 
Greek  Influence  did  not  touch  China, 

(i5. 
Group    of    fifteen    l.-un.-i-,    320. 

1 1  ■- 1 1 1    emperor's    tomb,     .'1.' 
Height    Of    the    mound,     J10. 
Haunted   by    Will   on   shipboard,  8. 

Il.nls    of   yak,    :<-'-'. 
Hicnyang,    22. 

Hiero  and   Archimedes,  62. 

Hideous      idols     on     the      Horizontal 
Ridge,  33. 

History    in    retrospect,    129. 
Horrors   of  the   desert,   143. 
"Horse    candy,"     KM, 
"House   of   the   Lucky    Star,"    46. 
How    the    railroad     got    through    the 

Wall    at    Shanhaikwan,    35. 
Humble   homes,    84. 
Hwang    ho,    265. 
Hwang  ho  river,   the,   105. 

Ignorant   of   the   camera,   118. 
Imperial   burial    reserve,    7 1. 
Imperial    tombs,    232. 
Inn  of  Increasing  Righteousness,  372. 
Inscription    on    monument    at    Ta    Pa 

Ying,    182. 
Inscriptions  on   stone,  333. 
Insects  plentiful,   114. 
Introduction  of  Buddhism,  311. 

Journey    into    Tibet,    317. 
Journey    to   Chinan,    296. 

Kanchow  originally  beside  the   Great 

Boundary,   344. 
Kupeikow   ancient   northern  pass,  87. 

Lairs  of  fox  or  wolf,  212. 
Landing    at    Far    Eastern    Coast,    12. 
Landscape  of  the  loess,  295. 
Large  auditorium,  24. 


INDEX 


391 


Large    natural    mound    the    grave   of 

Chung  Tsung,  MS. 
Legendary  lore,  357. 
Legend    of    the    Fountain    of    Youth, 

139. 
Letterless    Mountain,    25. 
Light   of   Asia,   388. 
Lily    Pool,  the,   42. 
Lone   lady  of   Ninghia,  155. 
Longest  cemetery  on  earth,  72. 
Long    rampart,    190. 
Loops    or    inverted    bows    of    Great 

Wall,   176. 
Lost   Y,  the,  43. 
Lint'ung    police    patrol,    220. 
Lucky  public   inn,   135. 

Magnificent  palace,  a,  198. 

Many  chiefs    fought    for   power,  306. 

Martello  towers,  272. 

Marvelous  work  of  man,  51. 

Marvelous  sight  by   moonlight,  48. 

Martial  Barrier  of  all,  364. 

Massive  architecture  in  the  west,  66. 

Masterpieces    of   early    printers,    335. 

Mateo    Ricci's   offer,  91. 

Medieval    period     from    the    dynasty 
of  Chin,  306. 

Melons    and    onions,    353. 

Mencius,  292. 

Men  copying  inscriptions,  375. 

Merchants    come  this   way,   369. 

Military    efficiency    of    Wall,    104. 

Millions  of  frogs,  177. 

Moderns  still   quarry  in  the  ruins  of 
Imperial  City,  302. 

Moon    legend,    178. 

Moscow    the    last    outpost    of    Civili- 
zation, 159. 

Mounds  of  sand,  106. 

Mount   of   Imperial    Longevity,    70. 

Movements  of  Nations,  374. 

Mud-made  cairn  a  worship  house,  47. 

Mule-Horse  gate,  41. 

Multitudinous    legends,    124. 
Mutinous  tribes  near  Yenisei,  169. 


Natural  tower,  78. 
Near  the  end  of  journey,  360. 
New  bridge  at  Golden  Hill,  282. 
"Nine  by  three"  city,  the,  254. 
"Nineteenth  Century,"  quoted,  271. 
No    sky-scrapers,    no   trams,    180. 
Nothing  daunted  Chin,  201. 
Numbers    of    men    buried    in    Great 
Wall,   304. 

Old  and  new  side  by  side,  282. 
"Omar   Khayyam,"   160. 
One  church  of  Kanchow,  the,  348. 
One  of  the  sacred  spots  of  earth,  73, 
Ordinary    Chinaman    cannot    whistle, 

233. 
Outer  Wall,  92. 

Painting    on    silk — discard    stylo    for 

brush,  207. 
Panhandle  of  China,  342-360. 
Part    of   the   Wall   immortal,   50. 
Pavilion   of  Literature,  38. 
Peculiar    script    adopted    for    Chin's 

tablet,   334. 
Peking,   44. 

Peking  constructed  by  Yung  Lo,  263. 
Pen  or  brush  invented  by  a  Chinese 

soldier,  24. 
Period     of    Tang — empire    reunited, 

313. 
Personal  inquiries  liven  conversation, 

383. 
Picturesque  pass,  a,  83. 
Plains  of  Mongolia,  284. 
Plateau      intersected      by     numerous 

canyons,    108. 
Plutarch,   64. 
Present  city  an  agglomeration  of  five, 

303. 
Priest    claiming   to   be   inspired,    167. 
Prospect  Hill,  92. 
Protecting     the  gates  of  the  capital, 

103. 

Quick     stream     a    wild    tempestuous 
rush,   111. 


392 


INDEX 


"Rain    of   grain,"   299. 

Ravines  and   heights,  84. 

Re-emharking  on    Pacific,   11. 

Rhubarb   as    a   drug,  362. 

Relation  of  Pinto,  5. 

Relations  between  Tartar  and  Chinese, 
309. 

Revival  of  Art,  60. 

Rivers  of  purest  water  called  "quick- 
silver," 28. 

Roman  Catholic  mission  at  Liang- 
chowfu,  259. 

Ruins    reach    over    2,600    miles,    373. 

Sacrificing  on   the  tombs,   232. 

Sage  brush  among  the  sand  hills,  113. 

Scenery  wonderfully  beautiful,  82. 

Sea   of  stars,    107. 

Secret     of     burning     the     Confucian 

classics,    137. 
Shan   Yang,    132. 
Shanhaikwan  and  Tsunhwa,  42. 
Seven  wonders,  55-59. 
Sheffield,   Dr.,  missionary,   338. 
Shih  Huang  Ti,  the  first  emperor,  19. 
Ship  starting  on   long   run,   7. 
Shui    K'ow,   79. 
Sian  entered,  221. 
Silver  opens  doors,  257. 
Sining    a    city    of    temples,    327;    its 

granaries,   328. 
Six  chancellors,  the,  125,  131. 
Snakes,  two  kinds  of,  114. 
Sorcery    and   witchcraft,    290. 
Speed  of  China's  awakening,  385. 
Stupendous    prevailed,   the,    62. 
Suez   wall,  94. 
Sung  dynasty,  the,  314. 
"Sunset  Route,"   11. 
"Sweet    Galilee,"    fairest    sea    in    the 

world,    321. 

Tablets  on  wall  at  Peh  Shih  K'ow,  77. 
T'ai    Shan    or    Sacred    Mountain    of 
China,  25. 


Tale  of  gold  in  the  Great  Wall,  262. 
Tartar    forays    beyond    the     Barrier, 

308. 
Tartars  strike  terror,   173. 
Temple    of    Human    Origin,    219;    of 

the   Serpent's    Egg,   221. 
Temples    of   this    famous    Mecca,   25. 
Temples,   shrines,    and    idols,    281. 
Terrible   droughts,    250. 
Text-books   of   Confucius,   291. 
"The  Only  First,"  21. 
Third   dynasty,  the,   289. 
Thirteen  tombs,  69. 
Thirteen    Tombs    or     Imperial     Ming 

Reservation,    43. 
"Thistle  Ravine,"  46. 
Three     jutments     of     Wall     toward 

Yellow   River,   148. 
Three  Kings'  temples,  the,  214. 
Tibetan    sable    furs,    329. 
Tibetans    deeply    religious,    324. 
Time  when  China  ruled  from  equator 

to    north    pole,    384. 
Toils    from    countless   thousands,    201. 
Tomb   of   Lung   Ch'ing,   85. 
Town   of   Shanghaikwan,  34. 
Town    Sebastopolized,    172. 
Trying   the   Chinese  language,   3. 
Twelve  good  resolutions,  89. 
Twelve   mighty    images,   22. 
Two   thousand   walled   cities,    145. 
Two  picturesque  pagodas,  342. 
Two   villages  of  the  Ch'en  clan,   216. 
Tunnel    and    portal,    279. 
Tunnel     of     West     Gate    has     many 

verses,  366. 
Tyrant  of  Ch'in,  14. 

Valley  of  Red   Peppers,  297. 
Valuable   minerals    abound   at    Great 

Barrier,   274. 
Valuable  monument  near  Wei  River, 

222. 
Vengeance   wreaked   on   foreign  city. 

266. 


INDEX 


393 


Wall  and  the  Cross,  the,  6. 

Wall  meant  as  rampart,  237;  one 
vast  dragon,  251 ;  more  than  employ- 
ment — a  boundary,  235;  runs  from 
deep  sea  to  desert,  361 ;  separates 
two  lands,  two  races,  5;  takes  a 
turn  at  Liangehowfu,  254;  under- 
taken simply  to  employ  men?  234. 

Wall's    numerous    pinnacles,    the,    81. 

Water-worn  stone,  299. 

Wave  of  architectural  ideas,  64. 

Wen    Pao's  investigation,   336. 

Western    cemetery,    74. 

Western  Gate  the  last  one,  361. 


White     lighthouse,     searchlight     and 

temple  to  literature,  38. 
White  meteor,  the,   276. 
William    the    Norman,    195. 
Writings  on  the  inn  walls,  368. 
Wutai    Shan,  the,   75. 

Yellow    pigmies,    115. 

Yellow   River   at   Lanchow,   the,   283. 

Yellow  Sea,  the,  108. 

Younghusband    expedition,    the,    323. 

Yung  Lo's   policy,  269. 

Yung  Lo's   sepulcher,   270. 

Yii,  the  great  engineer,  287. 

Zoological  and  botanical  gardens,  54. 


?  *» 


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